Enrico Cardile will not be able to start work with Aston Martin until July of this year after Ferrari won a legal case involving its former technical director.
Ferrari announced that Cardile was leaving his role as technical director (chassis area) in July 2024, with Aston Martin then confirming he would join the team as its chief technical officer in 2025. However, with uncertainty relating to his start date – Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell avoided answering questions relating to Cardile during pre-season testing – Ferrari has now confirmed it has won a court case that prevents the Italian from joining for another four months.
“With reference to the recent news regarding the timing of Enrico Cardile’s arrival at Aston Martin, Ferrari clarifies that a few weeks ago the Court of Modena, upholding the requests of the Company, ordered Enrico Cardile to immediately cease any form of collaboration with Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team until next July 18th,” a Ferrari statement read.
“In this urgent procedural phase, the Court of Modena found that our former employee was already violating the non-compete commitment with Ferrari, whose purpose was precisely to prevent other F1 teams from gaining an unjustified competitive advantage by hiring Cardile earlier than allowed, causing irreparable harm to Ferrari.”
An Aston Martin spokesperson told the BBC: “This is a matter between Enrico and Ferrari and their legal representatives in Italy, and the parties continue to be engaged in the process. As such we won’t be making any further comment. We will make an announcement in due course.”
When Cardile was announced as a new Aston Martin signing, the team described him as “a key appointment for the team as we build towards the new 2026 regulations”, but the delay in his arrival will limit the impact the can have on the new car, with teams having been able to begin full work on the 2026 regulations in January.
Should Aston Martin still want to bring Cardile’s start date forward it will need to reach a further agreement with Ferrari, something it has been unable to do up to this point. The team did welcome another key technical figure this week, with Adrian Newey starting work on Monday having joined from Red Bull.
