Ferrari win court judgement over Cardile, Aston Martin
Ferrari have won a court order blocking former engine chief Enrico Cardile from communicating with his new Aston Martin team until his gardening leave period ends.
Last July, Aston Martin announced the signing of Cardile as chief technical officer, but no official start date has since been confirmed.
The two teams had been discussing a start date, but it was clear during preseason testing in Bahrain last week no agreement had been made.
Ferrari has now revealed it successfully went to the Court of Modena for an “urgent” case to block Cardile from interacting with Aston Martin until July 18 of this year.
In a statement to ESPN, Ferrari said Cardile had already been collaborating with his new team, in violation of the terms of his contract.
“With reference to the recent news regarding the timing of Enrico Cardile’s arrival at Aston Martin, Ferrari clarifies that a few weeks ago the Court of Modena, upholding the requests of the Company, ordered Enrico Cardile to immediately cease any form of collaboration with Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team until next July 18,” the statement said.
“In this urgent procedural phase, the Court of Modena found that our former employee was already violating the non-compete commitment with Ferrari, whose purpose was precisely to prevent other F1 teams from gaining an unjustified competitive advantage by hiring Cardile earlier than allowed, causing irreparable harm to Ferrari.”
Aston Martin has still not confirmed when Cardile will start.
In reply, Aston Martin said in a statement: “This is a matter between Enrico and Ferrari and their legal representatives in Italy, and the parties continue to be engaged in the process.
“As such we won’t be making any further comment. We will make an announcement in due course.”
Aston Martin, who this week welcomed F1 design legend Adrian Newey into his new role as managing technical partner, is a team undergoing major change.
On the announcement of Newey’s signing last year, Fernando Alonso called Aston Martin “the team of the future.”
The team had 248 new starters during 2024.
Team owner Lawrence Stroll has made it clear he wants to be a championship contender under the 2026 rule change, which covers both aerodynamic and engine regulations.
As well as welcoming a slew of engineering talent, Aston Martin has also secured an exclusive Honda engine deal to start next year. Honda has powered Red Bull to its recent run of drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
Source: espn.com