F1: Two Red Bull engineers turned down Ferrari offers

(GMM) Ferrari’s push to sign two top engineers from dominant Formula 1 team Red Bull ultimately proved unsuccessful, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Correspondent Luigi Perna said the Maranello based team made offers to Red Bull’s head of aerodynamics, Enrico Balbo, and technical director Pierre Wache.

Both turned down the offers following negotiations, he revealed.

Enrico Balbo, Head of Aerodynamics at Red Bull Racing talks with Pierre Wache, Chief Engineer of Performance Engineering at Red Bull Racing during day one of F1 Testing at Bahrain International Circuit on February 23, 2023 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

“Other engineers are arriving at Ferrari, but they are medium-level figures, like the 20 recruited by Mattia Binotto last year,” Perna added.

He said Ferrari also tried to sign Dan Fallows, but he ultimately switched to Aston Martin instead.

“Everything broke down because Ferrari did not want to meet the financial demands of the British engineer,” said Perna.

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur admits that the Italian team is “running a massive recruiting operation” at the moment.

“We often dwell on the names of those who leave,” said the Frenchman, “while so many others are arriving.”

It is believed that Ferrari may be willing to release Laurent Mekies to Alpha Tauri early if Red Bull agrees to release the signed-up engineers without lengthy ‘gardening leave’ periods.

Ferrari has brought some car upgrades to Miami this weekend, with more then scheduled for the following race at Imola.

“I have heard that Ferrari and Mercedes are bringing big things to Imola,” said Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso on Thursday.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz says the upgrades for Miami are mostly about improving the “handling” of the 2023 car.

“To be honest,” said the Spaniard, “it’s a difficult car that has given me a lot of headaches in these first few races, hence the changes we’re making.

“There are things in the car that we don’t like, and we are trying to fix them. It’s a very aggressive plan has been put in place in Maranello to try and turn the season around.”

Former Ferrari team manager Daniele Audetto told Corriere della Sera newspaper that his former employer “has an obvious leadership and stability problem”.