Revealed: Identities of four key Red Bull engineers targeted by Ferrari

The identities of four important Red Bull engineers that Ferrari are trying to recruit have been reported.

• Enrico Balbo - head of aerodynamics

• David Morgan - aero trackside performance team leader

• Ben Waterhouse - head of performance engineering

• Alessandro Germani - aerodynamics development team leader

Italian newspaper Gazzetta reports that the quartet are the subject of interest, and contact, from Ferrari.

The drama and uncertainty at Red Bull means that other teams have “moved with great timing” to contact some of their crucial employees.

A year ago Ferrari failed to recruit Red Bull technical director Pierre Wache, and they have repeatedly been unable to tempt Adrian Newey to Italy.

But over the course of the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix it was revealed that Ferrari are interested in four other Red Bull members of staff.

Enrico Balbo, Red Bull’s head of aerodynamics, is Italian and was first contacted by Ferrari at last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April.

David Morgan, Red Bull’s aero trackside performance team leader, has worked with the Milton Keynes team for six years since leaving Williams.

Ben Waterhouse, the head of performance engineering, would know every intricacy of F1’s most dominant car.

Alessandro Germani, also from Italy, is reportedly an expert in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

Red Bull CEO met Ferrari president in Jeddah

Intriguingly, Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff was spotted in private talks with Ferrari president John Elkann in the paddock at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Talks took place within the Red Bull hospitality.

Italian media believes the meeting was to discuss the Concorde Agreement rather than the four Red Bull employees who Ferrari are looking at.

Elkann has “skilfully tried to perceive, first-hand” the possible problems that exist within Red Bull over the past few weeks, Gazzetta report.

His presence in Saudi Arabia was a “strong signal” of “closeness” to the Ferrari F1 team, and also of “direct involvement in the team's growth project”.

Should Ferrari be successful in tempting any of their targets to Italy? Then they would join Lewis Hamilton,who will swap Mercedes for Ferrari in 2025.