It has been widely rumored throughout the last few days that Toro Rosso’s Technical Director Giorgio Ascanelli and former Sauber Technical Director James Key are on the move, with Ascanelli looking to be headed to Ferrari with James Key set to replace him at the Faenza-based outfit.
Giorgio Ascanelli is unquestionably one of the top men in his field of expertise, starting his colorful career with Ferrari in 1985 and once being the race engineer for the legendary Ayrton Senna during his dominant McLaren era. Once the great Brazilian left McLaren for Williams in 1994, Ascanelli quickly moved back to Ferrari in 1995 to rejoin former Benetton colleague John Barnard. Since then, the Italian became the technical liaison between Ferrari and Prost Grand Prix, as the French team used Acer badged Ferrari engines.
After momentarily leaving the world of Formula 1 to become the Head of Maserati’s Competition Department, Giorgio Ascanelli returned to the sport with Scuderia Toro Rosso and oversaw their illustrious victory with Sebastian Vettel at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. Although it is currently unknown what Ascanelli’s role within Ferrari would be, the rumors most definitely seem to be gathering momentum.
James Key has recently been best known as the Technical Director at Sauber, after replacing Willy Rampf at the team in 2010 from Force India. The Briton started his career within Formula 1 in 1998 with the Jordan Grand Prix team, and became Takuma Sato’s race engineer several years later. Key remained with the outfit throughout the transition into Midland F1, becoming the team’s Technical Director. James Key also retained his position within the team as they became Spyker F1, and then most recently Force India.
James Key played a pivotal role in rebuilding the Sauber F1 team after its strong partnership with BMW ended. The team now use Ferrari engines, and have one of fastest cars within the highly competitive midfield section.
With nothing officially announced regarding these two technical personnel changes, it is still only rumors that tie Giorgio Ascanelli with Ferrari and James Key with Toro Rosso. With Giorgio Ascanelli good friends with Ferrari’s new technical boss Pat Fry, his move to Ferrari is all the more feasible.
Follow me on Twitter - @AndyYoungF1