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

F1 Grand Prix, GP Azerbaijan, Baku Street Circuit

Former Mercedes figures Loic Serra and Jerome d'Ambrosio have made their first public appearances with their new team Ferrari during the post-season Pirelli tyre test at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Ferrari announced the signing of Loic Serra and Jerome d’Ambrosio, both coming from arch rival, Mercedes. With both of them having been on gardening leave, the duo started to work for Ferrari on October 1.

Serra has taken on the role of Head of Chassis Performance Engineering, while d’Ambrosio has joined the Scuderia in the role of Deputy Team Principal.

Serra was born in France in 1972 and has a degree in mechanical engineering after studying in Aix-en-Provence and Paris. After university, he worked for Michelin and then the BMW-Sauber and Mercedes AMG Formula 1 teams.

D'Ambrosio was born in Belgium in 1985 and was a professional racing driver up until 2020. His results include a win in GP2, three in Formula E and he also drove in 20 Formula 1 Grands Prix from 2011 to 2012. At Mercedes, he worked alongside Team Principal Toto Wolff and ran the Stuttgart firm’s young driver programme.

The Abu Dhabi tyre test saw both Serra and d’Ambrosio make their first public appearances.

As for the test, Ferrari worked with three drivers. Charles Leclerc drove one of the SF24s, while Antonio Fuoco and Arthur Leclerc shared driving duties in the other Ferrari.

The eight-time F1 race winner competed 136 laps, while Fuoco did 73 in the morning and then the younger Leclerc drove 68 laps in the afternoon, making a team total of 277 laps, equivalent to 1463 kilometres.

Leclerc started off running the C2 compound, before switching to the C4, his best time being a strong 1m24.561s on the C4. By the lunch break, the Monegasque had completed 77 laps, equivalent to 407 km. In the afternoon, he added a further 59 (313 km) first on new C2s and then switching to the C3 and C5 compounds. His total 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 first time, starting on the C3 and then the softer C4 with which he set his best time of 1’25”238. It was the second time the Italian had driven a current generation car and it was a useful exercise, allowing him to compare it with the virtual car he usually drives on the Maranello simulator.

He did 73 laps, 386 kilometres. Prior to the afternoon session, the SF-24 was reconfigured to fit Arthur Leclerc who returned to the cockpit just four days after making his official debut at a Formula 1 weekend, replacing Carlos Sainz for the first free practice session at this track, driving alongside his brother.

He completed 68 laps, 359 kilometres, on the C3, C4 and C5. Today, he was able to push the car harder, running a more complete programme to the one set out for him during Friday practice. His best time was a 1’24”576.

Commenting on his day, Fuoco noted: "It was important for me to have the opportunity to get back behind the wheel of a current generation Formula 1 car, having driven the F1-75 a few weeks ago at Fiorano.

"Doing so in Abu Dhabi, just a couple of days after the Grand Prix allows for particularly meaningful comparisons, because we managed to acquire data in similar climatic and track conditions.

"For me, spending so much time in the simulator, it was also useful to be able to work on correlation: tomorrow I will be back in Maranello where we will check some of the data from here. Then there will be a short break for the Christmas holiday after which I’m very enthusiastic about getting back to work on 2025, when we want to be even more competitive.

Having made history last Friday when he drove with his brother Charles Leclerc in the opening practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Arhtur Leclerc commented: "It was great to be back in the car just a few days on from when I drove it in the first free practice session. Today, I was able to enjoy driving the SF-24 much more and we worked on a pretty busy programme, trying various things and gathering data that we will analyse in the coming days.

"Once again, it was special to have Charles across the garage from me and also to be on track with so many really good drivers. Next up is another week working in Maranello before a short break for the end of the year. Then it will be time to start again for what I expect will be a very busy 2025, but let’s hope it will be a very rewarding year."