Kimi Raikkonen is not the only thing Ferrari has poached from the Lotus F1 team. The Italian squad has announced two new members who are set to join from the Enstone based team.
Ferrari has bolstered its technical side of operations by signing Lotus’ head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer. Earlier in the year Ferrari snapped up the highly sought-after former Lotus technical director James Allison. Allison’s Ferrari duties officially started at the beginning of September. Team principal Stefano Domenicalli has also revealed that Allison’s account of Raikkonen’s ability to deliver techincal input and feedback helped convince the team to lure the Finn back to the Ferrari stable.
Jarrod Murphy, head of computer aided design (CAD) in Enstone will also set off for Ferrari after 17 years of service. It is believed that Ferrari has made the signing of Murphy on the request of James Allison.
In turn, Lotus has signed up Ferrari’s chief aerodynamicist Nicolas Hennel. Hennel is expected to start work at Lotus next month and his focus will be required on the 2014 car from the get-go.
It is also believed that Felipe Massa is now in contention for a seat at Lotus for 2014. Nicolas Todt, Massa’s manager, and Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has revealed that the Brazilian in the running for what they term to be “the best seat” left on the grid. “What is certain is that other teams are interested in Felipe,” said Todt. “Felipe will never play second fiddle in a small team, so what we need to do is find him a car that allows him to play a leading role in Formula 1.”
Up until this point Nico Hulkenberg has been linked with replacing Raikkonen at Lotus. Hulkenberg was also in contention at Ferrari and is highly regarded by the top teams in the paddock.
