Mercedes defectors Serra and Hamilton to reunite at Ferrari

Ferrari's former chassis technical director Enrico Cardile stepped down in July, with team principal Frederic Vasseur overseeing the chassis area as an interim measure. Cardile will join rivals Aston Martin next year as their chief technical officer.

Serra meanwhile makes his way to Maranello ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who also ditched Mercedes but will only join Ferrari after his final race in Silver, the season finale in Abu Dhabi. The pair will then reunite.

Serra, currently the performance director at Mercedes, was due to join as head of chassis performance engineering and would have reported to Cardile, but now the Frenchman will now report directly to Vasseur, Reuters report.

Scuderia Ferrari HP announces that it has entrusted the role of Technical Director Chassis to Loic Serra. As previously announced, the French engineer, born in 1972, will join the team on 1 October. Loic in this new role will report directly to the Team Principal, Fred Vasseur.

Serra will therefore be responsible for the following departments: Chassis Project Engineering, headed up by Fabio Montecchi; Vehicle Performance, headed up by Marco Adurno; Aerodynamics, headed up by Diego Tondi; Track Engineering, headed up by Matteo Togninalli and Chassis Operations, headed up by to Diego Ioverno, who also continues in the role of Sporting Director.

The role of Technical Director Power Unit continues to be assigned to Enrico Gualtieri reporting directly to Fred Vasseur.

Loic’s passion for racing began in his teenage years when he first discovered a love for go-karting. By the age of 18, his enthusiasm turned into a hands-on project, as he set out to design and manufacture his own go-kart chassis in his parents' garage.

After finishing school, Loic pursued Mechanical Engineering at Arts et Métiers ParisTech, studying in both Aix-en-Provence and Paris. During his time at university, he collaborated with a classmate to develop an entirely new go-kart concept, gaining the institution’s approval to use the machine shop for the project. Together, they crafted nearly every component of the kart, even going so far as to cast their own brake discs.

Upon graduation, Loic’s career in the automotive industry began with Michelin, where he worked as a quality engineer in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. He later transferred to Michelin's main R&D hub in Clermont-Ferrand, France, where he deepened his expertise in vehicle dynamics, particularly in tyre and suspension interactions.

In 2002, Loic’s skillset earned him a new challenge: the opportunity to develop a cutting-edge suspension system for racing cars and high-performance vehicles. This marked his first involvement in Formula 1, as the suspension concept was pitched to Michelin's customer teams in the series. He subsequently joined Michelin’s F1 R&D department, where he worked until the tyre manufacturer withdrew from Formula 1 in 2006.

Determined to remain in the sport, Loic transitioned to BMW Sauber F1 Team as a suspension engineer in Hinwil, Switzerland. His career trajectory took another significant turn in 2010 when he joined the Mercedes works team in Brackley, driven by the belief that “Mercedes won’t join the sport for the sake of it, they’ll come to win.”

In 2019, Loic's expertise was recognized with his promotion to Performance Director of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team where he was part of the Lewis Hamilton era, and the 15 F1 titles in eight years rampage the team enjoyed.

He now joins Ferrari as chassis technical director. His love for the intricate engineering of Formula 1 remains as strong as ever.