Aston Martin and design guru Adrian Newey have been dealt a blow after rivals Ferrari won a case to keep a key employee on gardening leave for half of the new Formula 1 season.
Former Ferrari technical director Enrico Cardile left the Italian team to become the chief technical officer at Aston Martin last year, but the two teams have been fighting over his start date since.
Cardile had been with Ferrari since 2005, and has been seen as a major loss to the team.
But an Italian court has blocked Cardile from working for Aston Martin until 18 July, the half-way point of the 2025 season and right after the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
A statement by Ferrari said Cardile was “already violating the non-compete commitment with Ferrari”.
An Aston Martin statement said: “This is a matter between Enrico and Ferrari and their legal representatives in Italy, and the parties continue to be engaged in the process.
“As such we won’t be making any further comment. We will make an announcement in due course.”
Aston Martin setback
It will be a setback for Aston Martin, who hired Cardile to work with aero legend Newey, who left Red Bull last season and officially began this week. Cardile’s impact is now unlikely to be felt until the 2026 season, after he’s had time to influence Ferrari’s next challenger.
Ferrari defended the gardening leave clause given to Cardile, saying it was put in place “precisely to prevent other F1 teams from gaining an unjustified competitive advantage by hiring Cardile earlier than allowed, causing irreparable harm to Ferrari”.
There are major regulation changes in 2026, with the cars set to be dramatically different in terms of design and performance.
Teams can begin working on their 2026 cars this year but in doing so will compromise development for their 2025 challenger.
Each of the 10 teams will need to balance investment in their 2025 cars given rules will change at the end of this year, and what budget that allocate to their 2026 team – when Audi comes into the sport and Cadillac F1 joins the grid.
Ferrari are looking to provide new driver Lewis Hamilton with a car good enough to see the Brit win his eighth world championship, while his teammate Charles Leclerc is on the hunt for an inaugural title.