Only one F1 team have convinced their staff that they should ‘never leave’

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Several top Formula 1 engineers have changed teams in recent times. On Monday, it was revealed that Will Courtenay, the former Red Bull strategist, has started work at McLaren.

Courtenay’s departure is part of a significant exodus from Red Bull. Their long-serving sporting director, Jonathan Wheatley, has taken over at Sauber, and Max Verstappen’s engineer Gianpiero Lambiase could be the next to leave.

Adrian Newey, the mastermind behind Red Bull’s title-winning F1 cars between 2010 and 2024, has now become Aston Martin’s team principal.

Elsewhere, Loic Serra has finalised his first Ferrari F1 design after completing his move from Mercedes in late 2024. While driver ‘silly season’ dominates the headlines, there is an ongoing market for team personnel too.

Ferrari have inspired more ‘loyalty’ than any other F1 team

Ferrari aren’t immune. For instance, Enrico Cardile is working under Newey at Aston Martin after leaving his post as technical director.

But as F1 journalist Nate Saunders explained on Nailing The Apex last year, the Cardile case is an exception. ‘90%’ of Ferrari’s staff have been there for at least a decade.

For the most part, staff ‘never leave’ Maranello. Ferrari are the oldest, most successful and most prestigious F1 team on the grid.

“When people work at Ferrari, when they get a job there, whether it’s at 21, 28, 31, 35, once they join Ferrari, unlike any other team in Formula 1, they never leave,” Saunders, who has written a book about the Italian marque, said.

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“There’s about 90% of staff at Ferrari at the moment who have been there for a decade, two decades.

“Enzo Ferrari had the same PA for his whole life, and she only just stopped being paid by Ferrari five years ago, even though she’d stopped working there.

“There’s this loyalty, this way of talking about the team. If it’s anything other than, ‘This is perfect, and this is the place I want to be’, then you’re insulting it.”

Since Stefano Domenicali left in 2014, no Ferrari team principal has kept his job for more than three years. But they tend to be forced out rather than leaving for a different role.

This reflects the consensus within the industry that working for Ferrari is the pinnacle.

Ferrari already have a scapegoat if the 2026 season is a failure

Ferrari privately blamed Cardile for the problems with their 2025 car. He formulated the concept but left before the design process was complete.

A year later, engine chief Wolf Zimmermann left Ferrari to join Audi, along with his assistant, Lars Schmidt. While he has been replaced, one can see how his untimely exit may have destabilised 2026 development.

Ferrari fans will have to wait until the season gets underway to see if it has a perceptible impact. There’s a school of thought that engines will be more significant than aerodynamics in determining the pecking order.