Former Mercedes figures make debut with Ferrari at the Yas Marina Circuit

Former Mercedes figures Loic Serra and Jerome d’Ambrosio have made their first public appearances with their new staff Ferrari in the course of the post-season Pirelli tyre check on the Yas Marina Circuit.

Forward of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Ferrari introduced the signing of Loic Serra and Jerome d’Ambrosio, each coming from arch rival, Mercedes. With each of them having been on gardening go away, the duo began to work for Ferrari on October 1.

Serra has taken on the function of Head of Chassis Efficiency Engineering, whereas d’Ambrosio has joined the Scuderia within the function of Deputy Staff Principal.

Serra was born in France in 1972 and has a level in mechanical engineering after finding out in Aix-en-Provence and Paris. After college, he labored for Michelin after which the BMW-Sauber and Mercedes AMG System 1 groups.

D’Ambrosio was born in Belgium in 1985 and was knowledgeable racing driver up till 2020. His outcomes embody a win in GP2, three in System E and he additionally drove in 20 System 1 Grands Prix from 2011 to 2012. At Mercedes, he labored alongside Staff Principal Toto Wolff and ran the Stuttgart agency’s younger driver programme.

The Abu Dhabi tyre check noticed each Serra and d’Ambrosio make their first public appearances.

As for the check, Ferrari labored with three drivers. Charles Leclerc drove one of many SF24s, whereas Antonio Fuoco and Arthur Leclerc shared driving duties within the different Ferrari.

The eight-time F1 race winner competed 136 laps, whereas Fuoco did 73 within the morning after which the youthful Leclerc drove 68 laps within the afternoon, making a staff whole of 277 laps, equal to 1463 kilometres.

Leclerc began off working the C2 compound, earlier than switching to the C4, his finest time being a robust 1m24.561s on the C4. By the lunch break, the Monegasque had accomplished 77 laps, equal to 407 km. Within the afternoon, he added an extra 59 (313 km) first on new C2s after which switching to the C3 and C5 compounds. His whole for the day was 136 laps (720 km) and he topped the time sheet with a 1m23.510s set on the softest tyre.

Fuoco was driving the SF-24 for the primary time, beginning on the C3 after which the softer C4 with which he set his finest time of 1’25”238. It was the second time the Italian had pushed a present era automotive and it was a helpful train, permitting him to check it with the digital automotive he normally drives on the Maranello simulator.

He did 73 laps, 386 kilometres. Previous to the afternoon session, the SF-24 was reconfigured to suit Arthur Leclerc who returned to the cockpit simply 4 days after making his official debut at a System 1 weekend, changing Carlos Sainz for the primary free observe session at this observe, driving alongside his brother.

He accomplished 68 laps, 359 kilometres, on the C3, C4 and C5. At this time, he was in a position to push the automotive tougher, working a extra full programme to the one set out for him throughout Friday observe. His finest time was a 1’24”576.

Commenting on his day, Fuoco famous: “It was vital for me to have the chance to get again behind the wheel of a present era System 1 automotive, having pushed the F1-75 a number of weeks in the past at Fiorano.

“Doing so in Abu Dhabi, simply a few days after the Grand Prix permits for notably significant comparisons, as a result of we managed to amass information in comparable climatic and observe circumstances.

“For me, spending a lot time within the simulator, it was additionally helpful to have the ability to work on correlation: tomorrow I shall be again in Maranello the place we are going to verify a number of the information from right here. Then there shall be a brief break for the Christmas vacation after which I’m very passionate about getting again to work on 2025, after we need to be much more aggressive.

Having made historical past final Friday when he drove along with his brother Charles Leclerc within the opening observe on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Arhtur Leclerc commented: “It was nice to be again within the automotive only a few days on from once I drove it within the first free observe session. At this time, I used to be in a position to get pleasure from driving the SF-24 far more and we labored on a fairly busy programme, making an attempt varied issues and gathering information that we are going to analyse within the coming days.

“As soon as once more, it was particular to have Charles throughout the storage from me and in addition to be on observe with so many actually good drivers. Subsequent up is one other week working in Maranello earlier than a brief break for the top of the 12 months. Then it will likely be time to begin once more for what I anticipate shall be a really busy 2025, however let’s hope it will likely be a really rewarding 12 months.”

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