Ferrari confirms departure of engine chief Sassi

On the back of reports that Scuderia Ferrari had split with their Chief of Powertain, Lorenzo Sassi, the company's chairman has today confirmed that Sassi has indeed left the team to 'continue the development of his career'.

5 days ago, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Sassi had left, even though Ferrari at the time did not confirm the reports.

The news came as a surprise to many, given Ferrari's progress with their power unit in recent years. One could say that are the only team who have managed to catch up properly to the class leading Mercedes power units, even though they are still lagging somewhat behind.

Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne has now indicated to La Gazzetta dello Sport the Italian is indeed leaving Ferrari's F1 team.

"Sassi is continuing the development of his career. We did it with Cardile as well," he said.

Indeed, Enrico Cardile switched from Ferrari's GT programme in the middle of 2016 to head the Scuderia's aerodynamics division. This happened at a time when the team was restructuring to cope with the departure of James Allison.