Formula 1 News: Ferrari poaches Dezoteux from Racing Bulls

Ferrari has bolstered its technical team ahead of the 2026 Formula 1 season by recruiting French engineer Guillaume Dezoteux (pictured) from Racing Bulls, Red Bull’s junior outfit with a hefty pay increase.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Dezoteux, who spent 18 years at the team as head of vehicle performance, announced his departure on LinkedIn, marking the end of his long tenure with the Red Bull family. In his post, he expressed gratitude to his colleagues and wished the team success with their new car and power unit for the upcoming season.

At Ferrari, Dezoteux takes on the role of head of performance operations, reporting directly to Matteo Togninalli, the head of trackside engineering. He will also collaborate with sporting director Diego Ioverno within a restructured technical setup led by Loic Serra, who joined from Mercedes as technical director last year. This move comes as Ferrari seeks to recover from a challenging 2025 campaign, which saw the team go winless and Lewis Hamilton endure his worst season in F1, finishing sixth in the championship without a single podium.

The Scuderia has yet to confirm Hamilton’s race engineer for 2026, with the second pre-season test in Bahrain approaching next Wednesday. Potential candidates include McLaren’s Cedric Michel-Grosjean, previously Oscar Piastri’s performance engineer and seen as the frontrunner to succeed Riccardo Adami, or Hamilton’s current performance engineer, Luca Diella.

Additionally, Hamilton has parted ways with his longtime manager Marc Hynes, who has moved to the new American entrant Cadillac.

Ferrari recently unveiled its 2026 challenger, the SF-26, as the sport prepares for new regulations. The season kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 8.