Ferrari, first consequences of Bahrain: a head falls off

First major consequences of Bahrain flop: Ferrari loses longtime technician.

Ferrari in turmoil after the Bahrain Grand Prix, which saw Charles Leclerc forced to retire with an ECU failure and Carlos Sainz beaten by Red Bull and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin. In fact, on Thursday came the resignation of David Sanchez, a technician who had worked in key roles in Maranello for more than a decade.

As ‘Repubblica’ summarizes, in fact, David Sanchez worked at Ferrari as Head of vehicle concept, that is, in charge of the aerodynamic sector. He had arrived at the Cavallino stable in October 2012 and had been promoted to chief engineer for two years. He had thus closely followed the design and development of Maranello’s last two single-seaters: the F1-75 and the SF-23.

‘Sky Sport’ also recalled the long talk between Sanchez and a perplexed Charles Leclerc during the three-day test in Bahrain, explaining, however, that the engineer was defended by Frederic Vasseur. According to the team principal, in fact, Ferrari’s current problems do not depend on aerodynamic woes.

Sanchez, ‘Sky Sport’ adds, is in the smell of returning to McLaren (where he had already worked). However, this will come after a period of “gardening,” or mandatory work stoppage so as not to pass on a team’s data to a competitor. The technician, according to the source, will leave his office in Maranello with immediate effect. For his replacement, there is talk of an internal solution.