{"id":1523,"date":"2026-09-02T16:54:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=1523"},"modified":"2026-09-02T16:54:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T19:54:05","slug":"ferrari-suffers-setback-as-head-of-formula-1-hybrid-engine-division-leaves-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/ferrari-suffers-setback-as-head-of-formula-1-hybrid-engine-division-leaves-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferrari suffers setback as head of Formula 1 hybrid engine division leaves team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">News summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Thierry Baritaud has left Ferrari\u2019s Formula 1 hybrid engine division<\/strong> ahead of the Italian GP at Monza.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Baritaud\u2019s departure <strong>was not related to Ferrari\u2019s recent power unit performance struggles<\/strong>, as the French engineer had already expressed his intention to retire.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Enrico Gualtieri, Ferrari\u2019s technical director for power units, will temporarily take over Baritaud\u2019s responsibilities.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ferrari has suffered a change in its hybrid engine division ahead of the Italian GP with the departure of Thierry Baritaud, who was responsible for the area in Formula 1. The loss, however, did not come as a surprise, as the French engineer had already announced plans to retire. <strong>Enrico Gualtieri has been chosen as his interim replacement.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The information was reported by Italian journalist Leo Turrini and published by <em>Quotidiano Nazionale<\/em> on Wednesday (2). The change comes at a time when Ferrari is facing difficulties precisely with the electrical side of its power unit. <strong>Both the internal combustion engine and the hybrid system have been among the SF-26\u2019s main weaknesses.<\/strong> However, it remains unclear whether the department will undergo further changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The timing of Baritaud\u2019s departure is not related to Ferrari\u2019s lack of performance. The engineer joined Ferrari in October 2000 and held several positions across both the Formula 1 operation and the road-car division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the past 18 years, Thierry was assigned to work on hybrid technology in motorsport and was one of those responsible for introducing <strong>KERS<\/strong> into Ferrari\u2019s project in 2009 and, later, <strong>ERS (Energy Recovery System)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2017, Baritaud took responsibility for Ferrari\u2019s energy recovery system and turbocharger, placing him in a key position in the development of the team\u2019s hybrid power units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The departure comes as Ferrari prepares to introduce a major power unit update at Monza. The team has already confirmed its latest ADUO development, including changes to the turbocharger and combustion chamber, with an expected gain of up to 15 hp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, <strong>Gualtieri, Ferrari\u2019s technical director for power units, will assume Baritaud\u2019s responsibilities on an interim basis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move comes during a crucial weekend for Ferrari at its home race. The team will also run a low-drag aerodynamic package at Monza, with revisions to the floor and rear wing aimed at maximizing straight-line performance. <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/less-drag-and-extra-horsepower-what-ferrari-aims-to-achieve-with-italian-gp-upgrades\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">Ferrari\u2019s latest Monza upgrade package<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 returns this weekend, from September 4 to 6, at Monza. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">\u2019s F1 coverage<\/a> will follow all the action from the Italian GP, the <strong>13th round of the 2026 season<\/strong>. The full <a href=\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/italian-gp-2026-f1-schedule-session-times-monza\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">Italian GP 2026 schedule and Monza session times<\/a> are also available ahead of the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">FAQ<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Why did Thierry Baritaud leave Ferrari?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baritaud\u2019s departure was <strong>not linked to Ferrari\u2019s recent performance problems<\/strong>. The French engineer had already expressed his intention to retire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Who will replace Baritaud at Ferrari?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Enrico Gualtieri<\/strong>, Ferrari\u2019s technical director responsible for power units, will temporarily assume Baritaud\u2019s responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. What was Thierry Baritaud\u2019s role at Ferrari?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baritaud played an important role in the development of Ferrari\u2019s <strong>hybrid power units<\/strong>, including work on KERS, ERS, energy recovery systems and turbocharger technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thierry Baritaud had already expressed his desire to retire internally, and his departure did not catch Ferrari by surprise. Power unit technical director Enrico Gualtieri will take over on an interim basis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020313533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Thierry Baritaud leaves Ferrari\u2019s F1 hybrid engine division before Monza","42wp_featured_image_credits":"Ferrari","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_ai_content_disclaimer":"","42wp_is_ai_content":false,"42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":"","42wp_hide_from_automatic":false,"42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[367,56,324,366],"42wp_author":[31],"class_list":["post-1523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-enrico-gualtieri","tag-ferrari","tag-formula-1","tag-thierry-baritaud","42wp_author-bernardo-castro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1524,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1523\/revisions\/1524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020313533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1523"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=1523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}