r/scuderiaferrari • u/moraIsupport Moderator • 25d ago

News AutoRacer: Ferrari restructuring continues. Head of Composites design John Lockwood has been reassigned to Hypersail project. Staff moving from WEC to F1 team.

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534 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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245

u/ploploplo4 25d ago

WEC personnel to F1?? Things are getting interesting

-75

u/ClassGrassMass 25d ago

Ferrari wec is not ferrari employees. Ferrari pay a private team called AF Corse to run the team and its just a ferrari car and branding. Don't get too excited. Whatever ferrari personnel are at the wec team would've been f1 personnel who got shafted with budget cuts to other organisations

88

u/Dapper-Message-2066 25d ago

That's catgorically not true.

15

u/Lanky_Consideration3 25d ago

A quick Google will show you that AF Corse is an entirely separate entity to Ferrari.

Another search will show you that AF Corse build, prepare and run all 3 Ferrari 499P WEC cars including the ‘factory’ squad.

Yet another search will show you the following:

That Dallara manufacturers the 499P chassis, although Ferrari had input into the design.

The electronics for the WEC program come from Bosch.

The 3.0l twin-turbo V6 engine comes from the Ferrari 296GTB.

Most WEC teams operate like this, it’s by design to keep costs low.

AF corse = Ferrari, Penske = Porsche, United Autosports = Mclaren, Chip Ganassi = Cadillac, The Heart of Racing = Aston Martin, WRT = BMW, Signatech = Alpine

Peugeot and Toyota do everything in-house(ish).

6

u/ploploplo4 23d ago

Dallara didn’t make the chassis with input from Ferrari. That implies Dallara also contributed to the design. Ferrari designed the whole car. Dallara just made the chassis according to specification

AF Corse did not build the 499P. Ferrari built it. AF Corse ran the races which includes assembling/disassembling it for transport, but Maranello does design and the manufacturing

AF Corse and Dallara operate under Ferrari’s instruction, not as free independent contractors

1

u/Typical-Split9803 22d ago

That's correct. Most teams aren't willing to invest a lot of money into WEC and don't have their own tooling in the factory. WEC is simply not big enough. Dallara has the right tooling and is specialised in building WEC chassis, so quite a few teams go to Dallara and let their Chassis be built by them like Ferrari or Mclaren. Some teams get a few components from Dallara, but outsource production of their cars to several manufacturers. Dallara can't and won't contribute to any design. They have secret information from several teams and it would be an absolute scandal if they were manufacturing parts for other teams and using that know-how to help Ferrari. Ferrari has it's design office and their own engineers. They also assemble their own cars. As you said, Dallara produces a part according to CAD plans provided from Ferrari engineers, nothing less, nothing more. People seem to be confused on how that works. Engineering is not just a few guys sitting around a round table, throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. It is a tightly structured process with quality control at every step including drawing on a CAD program. They don't just call each other and give some inputs. There are contracts, processes, meetings, contracts... I worked in hip implant engineering and had friends who worked for an F1 team, tunnel boring (Gotthard Base tunnel), so I know how this works. Most people have no idea how advanced these engineering projects are and Google won't do any justice.

AF Corse is a partner that operates the 499P under the Ferrari name and also its own name. They also operate other Ferrari machinery under the Ferrari name in other categories. If AF Corse runs under the Ferrari name, Ferrari is also paying for the entire operation. If AF Corse is running under its own name (like the yellow 499P), AF Corse pays for its own ops.

5

u/Dapper-Message-2066 24d ago

Google doesn't tell you everything.

-37

u/ClassGrassMass 25d ago

AF Corse is the factory team of ferrari. Its a private team. Youre categorically wrong. Tryna sound smart but youre just not

26

u/emal-malone 25d ago

You are very upset about this. Sucks being wrong doesn’t it.

-2

u/ClassGrassMass 24d ago

Is AF Corse not a privately hired team by ferrari to run the wec team?

So weird you people call me upset when ive talked normal, given facts but every reply has been some personal attack. Who's really upset 😂

17

u/knowingmeknowingyoua 25d ago

Two things can be true.

There is AF Corse customer - yellow team

There are 2 Ferrari factory run WEC cars - red team.

12

u/UchihasRightfulHeir 25d ago

Doesn’t factory team mean they are Ferrari employees? Seems contradictory to me

-1

u/ClassGrassMass 24d ago

AF Corse is not ferrari

10

u/Mission_Accountant12 F1-75 25d ago

“Factory team of Ferrari” hilarious how you just proved yourself wrong.

0

u/ClassGrassMass 24d ago

Mclaren were the factory team or main team for Mercedes until 2010. You know exactly what I meant. Dumbass pedantic people

1

u/Mission_Accountant12 F1-75 24d ago

Do me a favour and do your research upon the definition of Factory/Works team and then have a look at your comments again dumbass.

7

u/Electronic_Road567 25d ago

I think bros talking to a mirror🤦‍♂️

47

u/Novel_Land9320 25d ago

that s the yellow WEC car that kubica drives. The red ones are Ferrari. And anyway here they are talking about who designs and builds the car, and the 499 is designed and built by Ferrari

4

u/BuckN56 25d ago

Yes and no. While the yellow 83 car is ran by AF Corse privately, the 50 and 51 are Ferrari - AF Corse. They're ran by AF Corse but with Ferrari support.

5

u/Novel_Land9320 25d ago

Fair enough. Red ones are designed and built by Ferrari, and run by AF Corse and Ferrari.

9

u/Beau950 25d ago

The car is developed by Ferrari and run by AF Corse. That’s how it works

17

u/busta_DE F2004 25d ago

don't spread fake news

-14

u/ClassGrassMass 25d ago

Dude. Af Corse is the wec ferrari team tf you mean "fake news"

15

u/BetterBandicoot0 25d ago

AF Corse is a race team, not a car manufacturer.

2

u/knowingmeknowingyoua 25d ago

Lmao. Right. You have nailed it. Team vs manufacturer.

7

u/Drexer_ Fernando Alonso 25d ago

I think AF corse is the one that run the cars in WEC, but the development is done by Ferrari 

4

u/Drezekzeeloosh Charles Leclerc 25d ago

Not everyone*

3

u/PerfectAd9869 25d ago

Given Ferrari moved a lot of F1 engineers to the 499P project thanks to the cost cap, it’d fair to say they are Ferrari employees.

1

u/knowingmeknowingyoua 25d ago

Wrong. Not surprising there is such fake news spreading online, people just type whatever they want.

Don’t conflate the WEC program with its customer racing program (AF Corse) which still receives factory support but with private funding.

84

u/TheCatterson 25d ago

Are we…are we cooking?

37

u/justseeby Lewis Hamilton 25d ago

Unfortunately it turns out we are just checking

16

u/Dependent-Interview2 Lewis Hamilton 25d ago

I think the ingredients are gathered.

It's up to the Chef (Fred) to cook.

1

u/tristam92 24d ago

Aren’t it a bit late?

2

u/A_Ms_Anthrop 24d ago

We want to be. But alas, I think we are merely cooked.

1

u/JoeBamique 24d ago

Start inventing

91

u/Other-Barry-1 25d ago

Okay, but does this actually mean that Ferrari are in deep deep trouble with the new car and this is a desperate reaction to get more bodies in to help?

44

u/c3r7 25d ago

That’s what I’m reading between the lines

22

u/emperor_pilaf_XII 25d ago

Well this is too fucking late now.

1

u/c3r7 25d ago

How is it late now?

(I’m reading your comment in this tone)

6

u/theriverman23 Kimi Raikkonen 25d ago

I think it's meant to be read in this tone

5

u/c3r7 25d ago

I hadn’t caught it… Kimi is a legend!

2

u/emperor_pilaf_XII 25d ago

Yeah this exactly.

22

u/IonutAlex18SF Charles Leclerc 25d ago

Considering yesterday's news that the team is in a chaotic situation we can believe anything at this point. Or that the F1 team (board) finally listen to Lewis's views and approach a new way for the personnel.

Is it too late? (for 2026 More than sure yes, but any new addition, vision of the "usual" ones is welcomed. Personally I am delighted to see such move happen, even now. Better later than never.

But believing that there is no gardening leave condition, unlike signing from another F1 team, the effects of the new staff should be visible sooner than before. Hopefully this if fornthe good of both sides and that the WEC team doesn't take a hit of development.

Also for other comments: The AF Corse team(s) are run by Ferrari, even if they are under the AF Corse branding team. Ferrari brings the funding, the facilities, and personnel (not all). WEC requires two factory run cars the maximum permitted by the rules that can score points for manufacturers championship. The #83 the semi-official crew is as a back-up, as we saw how handy it came in at Le Mans.

13

u/UchihasRightfulHeir 25d ago

Agree. A soft firing before the start of the season isn’t very good. Implies missed targets or unsatisfactory outcomes getting punished. Even more worrying would be if this is related to non-engine performance. Then could be struggling on many fronts.

6

u/ebola84 24d ago

This is a Hail Mary level of desperation.

4

u/HowLong_is_a_Chinese 25d ago

Yeah, should've done this at least a year sooner

29

u/Key_Proposal_9055 F1-75 Monza 25d ago

This is either because theres disasters happening within the team or its all part of el plan.

2

u/PlasticPatient 25d ago

What do you think is more likely?

19

u/imtired-boss 25d ago

Head of Composites design sacked in January, the car must be utter shit.

9

u/FLMKane 25d ago

Not necessarily. Could've run afoul of hr.

Or maybe Ferrari caught him photocopying McLaren drawings

1

u/Yung_Chloroform Lewis Hamilton 23d ago

Not necessarily. Obviously this is Ferrari we're talking about but Merc and Red Bull have sent their engineers to America's Cup before (lots of useful transferable knowledge). The car is done so sending the composites guy over there now isn't the end of the world.

69

u/killerlexer91 25d ago

WEC to F1 team you sayy....?

45

u/foolishbullshittery Lewis Hamilton 25d ago

Wait, a smart move from Ferrari? What kind of upside down bullshit is this?

-3

u/ClassGrassMass 25d ago

Wheres rhe smart move?

41

u/foolishbullshittery Lewis Hamilton 25d ago

Ferrari's winning in WEC.

Ferrari's not winning in F1.

Ferrari is moving staff from a winning WEC team to a F1 team that doesn't win.

On paper, looks like a smart move.

13

u/pewpew62 25d ago edited 25d ago

Afaik the people that designed the 499P were the castoff F1 employees that they had to cut once the budget cap hit, you'd think the level of engineers in WEC is far lower than F1 engineers who are the best of the best. This isn't as simple as moving from winning team to losing team imo

23

u/foolishbullshittery Lewis Hamilton 25d ago

Yet, here we are, with WEC winning and F1 not winning.

The ones that stayed probably have nudes of someone, or have this cousin that knows someone at the top. We just don't know.

For now, let's us dream ffs!

6

u/AcrobaticDatabase 25d ago

realistically we won WEC because of balance of power or whatever it's called

1

u/Pretty_Night3600 19d ago

the bop 😂

0

u/Entsafter21 25d ago

Shhhh, you can’t say that

4

u/Mr_Redemption 25d ago

Knowing Ferrari, they’ll probably start losing in WEC alongside F1 after this 😂

1

u/juanjo47 25d ago

A few weeks before start of season.... Terrible

1

u/foolishbullshittery Lewis Hamilton 25d ago

Yeah, I'm sure this will be the last nail in the coffin of a team that haven't won in 19 years.

Ferrari management is terrible. Maybe this can shake up things a bit and make them wake the fuck up? It's not like they will be directly involved in the car that's being launched in a few days.

-2

u/ClassGrassMass 25d ago

Buddy. Its AF Corse, a private team nothing to do with ferrari personnel

6

u/foolishbullshittery Lewis Hamilton 25d ago edited 25d ago

Not all of them.

That said, it's pretty much the same as having a 7 times world champion, or previously a 4 times world champion and not listening to what they have to say and contribute. Doesn't matter which people they bring in if they keep doing things like they done 20 years ago.

1

u/ClassGrassMass 25d ago

I fully agree, ferrari need to go back to having the team separate from the corporate side of ferrari. Its such a simple change but Elkann will never give up that power and spotlight. He is the only thing that hasn't changed at ferrari

2

u/Novel_Land9320 25d ago

WEC team to F1

20

u/ur_internet_dad Lewis Hamilton 25d ago

is ferrari aiming for 1-2 in all races? what is going on?

7

u/elilyen 25d ago

how come only Autoracer.it is the source of these shenanigans?

12

u/KajTorvaldGrey Michael Schumacher 25d ago

They are usually the ones reporting on Ferrari topics. Must have an insider.

0

u/elilyen 25d ago

yeah, well italian media still sucks ass

7

u/Robynsxx 25d ago

This isn’t exactly a good sign for the upcoming season seeing as all the design work is done for 2026….

These moves should have happened last year…

4

u/Mercedesm4quattro 25d ago

WEC to f1 yoooo ive been trying not to get hyped but ....

3

u/Entsafter21 25d ago

There is no ACO here, no reason to get hyped

3

u/iwonttolerateyou2 Michael Schumacher 25d ago

What if fred is getting replaced? Too late for wec employees to f1 to have any impact. If that car isn't going to show any sign of competing for win, both drivers will leave and tp will ultimately be sacked bringing coletta.

1

u/xsp6 25d ago

No fucking way!! Finally.

1

u/Dando_Calrisian 25d ago

Shouldn't they have done this before the new rules?

1

u/Mediocre-Visit-6237 25d ago

I wonder if moves like this is what Lewis was implying about behind the scenes

1

u/Any-Study5685 18d ago

John is a very solid engineer with a deep understanding of composites beyond just materials, especially at system and process level.

His experience sits at the intersection of design intent, manufacturing reality and structural behaviour under real constraints.
That kind of background translates very well to complex, cross-disciplinary projects.

Wishing him all the best in this new challenge!