Ferrari linked with new statement signing after Newey deal breaks down – report

Less than a year after leaving Mercedes, Mike Elliott could be back in Formula 1 with Ferrari reportedly weighing up a move.

Although the Scuderia were the favourites to sign Adrian Newey after the Briton announced he’d be saying goodbye Red Bull next season, several rumoured issues have since cropped up to curtail those talks.

There is ‘talk’ of Mike Elliott filling Enrico Cardile’s Ferrari position

The final one is Aston Martin’s $100 million offer to the design legend with Autosprint claiming a September announcement is on the cards.

Ferrari though are reportedly considering former Mercedes chief technical officer Mike Elliott, who left the team in October last year.

His departure ended a 23-year tenure in Formula 1 for Elliott that began in 2000 and saw the Briton play a key role in Mercedes’ run of seven championship doubles from 2014 to 2020 with the team also retaining the Constructors’ title in 2021.

Mercedes said in a statement at the time that Elliott had “decided to take a break from the sport in the coming months, before deciding upon his next challenge”.

That decision, the Italian edition of Motorsport claims, could be made soon.

Having lost Enrico Cardile to Aston Martin, and now Newey too, the publication claims Ferrari have a ‘Mister X’ in mind to fill Cardile’s role and he is ‘not Italian’. There is ‘talk’ of Elliott being named ‘Cardile’s heir.’

Add in that Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari next season while long-time Mercedes engineer Loic Serra is taking up his new role as Ferrari’s Head of Chassis Performance Engineering in October, and the publication reckons all signs are pointing to Elliott as ‘there are not many profiles of this calibre available on the market.’

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Team boss Fred Vasseur, however, would not give any hints as to who would replace Cardile when asked at the Belgian Grand Prix.

“I will fill the position during the summer break as it is easiest, but just after the summer break, we will announce the new organisation,” the team boss told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“But at the end of the day, we have a group of more than 200 people working on these cars, and with 200 people, one person [leaving] is not always a drama.”

Pressed on his shortlist, he replied: “I have a couple of names with five letters.”

Elliott is currently on gardening leave and will reportedly be free to start with a new team at the beginning of next year.

Meanwhile, Diego Tondi appears to have let the cat out of the bag about his promotion at Ferrari, which the team has yet to confirm.

He took to social network LinkedIn to upgrade his profile from Head of Aerodynamic Development to Ferrari’s Head of Aerodynamics.

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