Key engineer recommended by Adrian Newey turned down triple his salary to stay at Ferrari

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Changes are afoot behind the scenes at some of the top teams in the Formula 1 paddock.

All eyes are on where Adrian Newey will end up after announcing he’ll leave Red Bull next season.

Aston Martin are very interested in Newey as Lawrence Stroll looks to try and lift the team out of their midfield obscurity.

However, Newey has also held extensive talks with Alpine boss Flavio Briatore and he doesn’t appear close to deciding on his final destination.

The genius designer isn’t the only man behind the scenes in F1 making moves.

Audi will arrive on the grid in 2026 but they’ve got plenty of work to do before then with Sauber seriously suffering this year.

The German manufacturer recently made big changes, bringing in Mattia Binotto to run their Formula 1 project and hiring Jonathan Wheatley from Red Bull to become their new team principal.

A report from Motorsport Italia has shared a key member of staff that Binotto wanted to hire from Ferrari to help develop the team over the next 18 months.

Enrico Gualtieri is incredibly important to Ferrari’s engine department and has now been on several F1 teams’ wish lists ahead of a new set of regulations.

However, he doesn’t appear to be going anyway yet despite receiving a significant offer from elsewhere in the paddock.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber from team principal to Audi future

Enrico Gualtieri has turned down leaving Ferrari after Mattia Binotto joined Audi

The report from Motorsport Italia highlights the lengths Audi and Aston Martin were willing to go to in order to sign Gualtieri.

Binotto was previously in charge at Ferrari and is described as a friend of Gualtieri with ‘great respect’ between the pair.

However, Gualtieri turned down a move to Audi – who will be developing their own power unit for 2026 – so that he can concentrate on Ferrari’s power unit project.

Gualtieri was one of the first people Binotto tried to hire as he knew there was already a risk of another team beating him to the 49-year-old.

Aston Martin courted Gualtieri after he was ‘recommended’ to Stroll by none other than Newey.

The head of Ferrari’s engine department decided to stay in Maranello despite the British team offering to triple his salary.

It would have been a ‘serious’ loss for Ferrari considering that Enrico Cardile recently made the move from Aston Martin to Ferrari.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Ferrari boss Vasseur has issues to solve but keeping Gualtieri is an important statement

Losing Cardile to Aston Martin was a blow for Ferrari and team principal Frederic Vasseur has temporarily taken on the role of technical director of the development of the team’s chassis.

Loic Serra and Jerome D’Ambrosio are both coming in from Mercedes and Karun Chandhok has praised Ferrari for those appointments.

Ferrari have stalled slightly this season after an update package delivered at the Spanish Grand Prix hasn’t quite worked as expected.

However, the hope will be from next year onwards – particularly once Lewis Hamilton arrives – that they’ll be challenging the likes of McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes for regular race wins.

Vasseur appears to have blocked a move for Newey which is a bold statement.

But also highlights his faith in the current Ferrari setup and keeping Gualtieri ahead of Formula 1’s most difficult engine rules are introduced is an important move from the team.