The news of Simone Resta who left the role of technical director at Haas it seems to have gone quite unnoticed, but its future could have important implications on the future of other F1 teams: Ferrari and AlphaTauri.
Simone Stays with Haas
When in 2021 Simone Resta had left Ferrari there was a scandal, it was found unacceptable that one of the team's best engineers would go to one of the least competitive teams in F1.
The introduction of the Budget Cup in the F1 financial regulations in 2021 had forced the Maranello team to reduce its staff. For this reason they had put a group of expert technicians are available to the Haas team, including Resta himself. They would have been the core of the design and development of the single-seater.
Obligatory conditional: the owner's investments were not correct, consequently the results did not arrive - apart from a few peaks such as the pole position for Magnussen in Brazil - and the last season ended in last place.
Collaboration and initial harmony
After the difficulties encountered in 2020 for economic reasons, the Haas team recovered thanks to the arrival of Simone. He was the one who recognized it Gunther steiner that during the his intervention at the motorsport festival organized by Motorsport he expressed himself thus: “In 2021 some people from Ferrari have come under the leadership of Simone Resta. I think he did a good job of building a team in a short time! Then we finished eighth again in 2022".
With the knowledge that 2021 would be a transition year ahead of the 2022 regulation change, the season had been poor. However, he could have been the right man to make the team re-emerge. It wouldn't have been the first time he brought a struggling team back to success given the previous with Minardi in 1998: few resources, few people and simplify as much as possible to focus on priorities.
This was the philosophy to be adopted at Haas too. In the early days the relationship was in fact close cooperation to develop and improve the competitiveness of the car. But then the mountain began to crumble.
Internal conflicts
According to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com, there would have been gods disagreements with Gene Haas and an alleged lack of motivation. The dispute appears to be the development of the car. While Resta asked to invest in developing the first version of the VF-23, Gene wanted the Red Bull philosophy to be followed.
The evolution of the car that debuted in Austin However, it did not produce the hoped-for improvements. A failure considering that Nico Hulkenberg returned to using the initial configuration of the VF-23, however with insufficient results for Haas.
And with the VF-24 project envisaging further renewal in this direction, the time has come for Resta to leave the team.
However, as reported on the company website Formula 1, the basis of Simone Resta's farewell is the contract. It should be clarified that the technical director was at Haas on loan, which ended regularly. Therefore it could be said that these disagreements did not lead to its renewal.
A big upheaval for the team just a few weeks away from the 2024 season, also considering the departure of Gunther Steiner.
Ferrari and AlphaTauri in Resta's future
Having left the past behind, Simone Resta's future is yet to be written. There are several rumors about his next destination.
One is about his return to Ferrari, but not in F1 orbit. In fact, the decision seems to be not to change the balance that is being created in the team. That's why he could work on the GT car.
Audi furthermore, he would like to bring people with great experience into his roster of technicians for the project which should start in 2026 and Simone's is one of the names on the notebook.
However, another scenario could open up in the short term, and it is currently the most concrete one. Motorsport.com reports in fact that while waiting for the Maranello team to make a decision regarding his positioning, Alpha Tauri – or rather, Red Bull – could make its move. Laurent Mekies would be interested in the engineer, thus ensuring a good start to his new role.
A double whammy actually for aAlphaTauri strengthening the agreement with Red Bull: not only would a technician with important experience and caliber arrive, but he could also bring Matteo Piraccini with him, his right arm.
