Mercedes has expanded their team by hiring Simone Resta, a former Ferrari designer who just quit his job as technical director at Haas. Resta, who will start his role as Silver Arrows strategic development director in 2025 at Brackley, is 53 years old and brings a lot of experience to the table. And speaking of Mercedes, Enrico Sampo has been appointed Head of Performance Software Applications. With his extensive experience as the Team Leader of Ferrari's Driver Simulator, Sampo brings a wealth of knowledge to a critical area of Formula 1 car performance, especially on race weekends. Despite Resta and Sampo's commitment to Mercedes, their start date is still up in the air; however, their contracts require them to begin in 2025. The appointments are timed to align with Mercedes' aggressive efforts to strengthen its organisational structure for the future and find ways to improve it.
About Simone Resta
Under the leadership of chairman Sergio Marchionne, Allison—then the company's technical director—appointed Resta to the position of chief designer at Ferrari in 2014. During his time at Ferrari, Resta was instrumental in developing the designs of the 2017 and 2018 F1 cars, which are generally considered to be the most competitive offerings from Maranello in the previous ten years. These vehicles were incredibly fast, and Sebastian Vettel led Ferrari early in both seasons and was in first place for long stretches of the championship. But late-season collapses, caused by reliability problems and mistakes from the team and Vettel, dashed their hopes.
The next stop on Resta's career path was Sauber in May of 2018. but in August of 2019, he returned to Ferrari. Following his path, he joined the Haas team for the 2021 season, which is a customer team of Ferrari power units and other components. He stayed there until team principal Guenther Steiner left the team the winter before.
These personnel changes are part of a larger strategy as Mercedes continues to struggle to stay competitive in Formula One due to the new technical regulations that were implemented in the 2022 season, which has been dominated by Red Bull.
In preparation for the impending technical regulations set to be implemented in 2026. The hybrid engine, which accounts for approximately half of the total performance, is getting extra attention in these rules, which involve extensive changes to power units. To further shake up Formula 1's competitive scene, major changes to aerodynamic rules are also on the cards.
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