Formula 1 News: Cardile 'gardening leave' enforced by Italian court

(GMM) Ferrari went to a local court to prevent its former technical director Enrico Cardile from starting work at Aston Martin.

Cardile, who had been at Maranello for 20 years, left the team last July and has since been on ‘gardening leave’.

It was expected that he would start work this month – roughly coinciding with Adrian Newey’s first day at the Silverstone factory on March 3 – so they could work on the 2026 project together.

However, the rumored agreement between Ferrari and Aston Martin about Cardile’s early start date has reportedly been torn up by the Italian team.

“At the request of Ferrari, the Modena Tribunal has ordered its former technical director to immediately cease all forms of collaboration with Aston Martin until July 18,” La Repubblica newspaper claims.

The implication is that Cardile and Aston Martin “violated the non-compete commitment” – the gardening leave – by collaborating before the agreed start-date.

La Repubblica quoted a court official as saying: “The former employee was violating the non-compete commitment undertaken in favor of Ferrari, the purpose of which was precisely to prevent other teams from gaining an unjustified competitive advantage, causing Ferrari irreparable damage.”

Earlier Italian reports indicated that Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll is “furious” about the development.