Ferrari continues its recruitment at Lotus
Kimi Räikkönen is not the only Lotus employee going to Ferrari next season: the Enstone team has just lost its aerodynamics director Dirk de Beer, who is moving to Italy. He will be replaced by Nicolas Hennel de Beaupreau, who held this position at... Ferrari.
It’s a real exodus happening between Enstone and Maranello. Indeed, Lotus lost its technical director, James Allison, last May. Although he did not announce where he was going at the time, he has since settled in Italy.
But it was last week that the most visible move occurred when Ferrari announced the recruitment of Kimi Räikkönen for two seasons, the indisputable number 1 driver of the team.
It would seem that Italian leaders wish to attract the talent that allowed Lotus to be a top 3 team in the past two seasons, despite having a smaller budget than its rivals. These high-level recruitments should therefore allow Scuderia to benefit from the secrets of British design offices. The recruitment of Dirk de Beer is not insignificant as Scuderia has had significant aerodynamic problems for several seasons. It has thus decided to completely recalibrate its wind tunnel during the season, which led it to exclusively use Toyota’s.
This leaves Lotus significantly weakened at the crucial moment of the 2014 regulation changes. Its recruitment of drivers and engineers in the coming weeks will therefore be essential if it wishes to maintain the level it has had since Iceman’s return to F1. As for Ferrari, the message is clear: after five seasons without a world title, it’s high time for the Scuderia to reach the top again. At any cost…
With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr
