Long-serving head of race strategy and more recently sporting director at the Scuderia from 2021-2023, Iñaki Rueda is set to leave Ferrari’s F1 operations ahead of the start of the 2024 season, although it is believed he could be placed elsewhere in the Ferrari company.
Photo Credits: Scuderia Ferrari
Rueda’s stay in the team proved turbulent, to say the least. Whilst on many occasions he led some inspired strategy calls such as pitting Sebastian Vettel during the Virtual Safety Car at the 2018 Australian GP and jumping Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes in the process, which won them the race despite not having the ultimate pace.
However, there were also some very controversial calls, including when it was decided to keep Charles Leclerc out on worn hard tyres at the final stages of the 2022 British GP, when all his direct rivals – including team-mate Carlos Sainz – had pitted for fresh rubber, which dropped the Monegasque from what was looking like a comfortable race win down to a lowly fourth place. Sainz still managed to win the race, but the team surely sacrificed what was a comfortable 1-2 for no apparent reason.
Another example was when Kimi Raikkonen was left out on used tyres for far too long during the 2018 Chinese GP in order to hold up then Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and help Vettel recover the lead he lost during the pit stop phase. But that didn’t go to plan, as Raikkonen fell down the order substantially whilst Vettel couldn’t find a way through the Mercedes, with the end result from a front-row lockout being a third place for Raikkonen and a P8 finish for Vettel (aided by contact with Max Verstappen).
According to Corriere dello Sport, the 45-year-old will leave the team’s F1 operations ahead of the 2024 season, but is leaving in “excellent” terms with the firm and could yet find himself on other projects in the Ferrari company. Rueda was replaced in his role by Ravin Jain ahead of the start of the 2023 season.
Another interesting development in Maranello, according to the Italian outlet, is that Rory Byrne, legendary Ferrari engineer which was at the helm during the team’s golden era with Michael Schumacher, winning seven drivers and team’s titles in the process, is still involved – although in a minor way – in the current 2024 project, despite being at almost 80-years-old.
The team’s former Sporting Director Laurent Mekies left in the middle of the 2023 season to serve his gardening leave ahead of joining AlphaTauri (or Racing Bulls) as the team principal this season. Corriere reports that the Italian will also bring some staff from the Scuderia with him for the Faenza squad, meaning the red team will likely lose some key staff ahead of this season.
Other departures include David Sanchez, who was also serving gardening leave ahead of a move to McLaren to complete the Woking squad’s three TD’s structure for 2024, joining former calculation engineer Eric Meignan, who also left the Scuderia to join the Renault group, according to Corriere.
As for the Scuderia’s 2024 F1 car, it is reported that there has been as estimated gain of seven tenths of a second compared to the SF-23 that finished the 2023 season third in the standings, but whether that will be enough to challenge the all-conquering Red Bull remains to be seen.
