Why Ferrari Is Moving Some WEC Team Members Into Its Formula 1 Project?
Ferrari has started transferring engineers and specialists from its highly successful World Endurance Championship (WEC) Hypercar programme into its Formula 1 team ahead of the 2026 season. This move has been talked about a lot by fans and insiders, and it reveals a lot about how the company is trying to fix its performance in the sport where stakes, pressure, budget limits and technical complexity are all higher than ever.
Ferrari’s endurance team has been delivering results that most people didn’t expect so quickly, and those results are not just nice trophies to hang on the wall. They reflect how that team thinks, organises and solves problems. Ferrari wants some of that mindset in its Formula 1 programme because that is where it believes real long-term gains can be made.
Ferrari’s Recent Success in Endurance Racing
Ferrari’s return to top-level endurance racing has been remarkable. After years away from the highest class of the World Endurance Championship, Ferrari made a dramatic comeback with its 499P Hypercar and quickly became the team to beat.
In the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, Ferrari’s results were dominant. The team won the Manufacturers’ Championship by a huge margin and secured the Drivers’ Championship, with its cars consistently finishing at the front of the field throughout the season. It even scored a 1-2-3 result in the drivers’ standings and finished well ahead of rivals like Toyota.
At the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the final round of the 2025 season, Ferrari clinched its first top-class WEC world titles since 1972, ending more than five decades without a global endurance crown. The team also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three years in a row, including the 2025 race where a Ferrari team completed the legendary event with strong performance.
Those achievements show two things clearly: Ferrari’s endurance engineers know how to build a car that is both fast and reliable over extremely long distances, and they know how to run a championship campaign with consistency.
What Ferrari’s Formula 1 Team Has Been Struggling With
Ferrari’s Formula 1 team has an unmatched heritage in motorsport. As one of the most successful teams in F1 history, it has 16 Constructors’ Championships and 15 Drivers’ Championships, far more than most other teams.
But recent seasons have been hard. In 2025, Ferrari struggled to be competitive in Formula 1. The team finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, scoring fewer points and podiums than fans had hoped. Ferrari did not win a single Grand Prix during the 2025 season, and the car often lacked the pace of top rivals like McLaren and Red Bull.
To put that in perspective, Ferrari’s endurance programme ended 2025 as a world champion with multiple race victories and a clear performance advantage over competitors, while its Formula 1 programme went a whole season without a win. The contrast is striking, and that’s part of the reason Ferrari is trying something new.
Why Moving Engineers Now?
Formula 1 is a place where the competition never stops evolving. Engineers in the WEC programme have learned how to work with complex hybrid systems, energy management, reliability strategies and long-range performance analysis. These are skills that become more important in Formula 1 under the new 2026 regulations, which place greater emphasis on hybrid power units and efficiency.
In WEC, engineers must think about how a car behaves over hours rather than minutes. They learn to integrate mechanical systems with software, cooling with power delivery, and strategy with execution in ways that cannot be replicated in simulation alone. Bringing engineers with that experience into Formula 1 introduces a mindset that favours long-term problem solving over quick fixes.
Another part of this is cultural. Ferrari’s WEC team established a reputation for clear communication, strong collaboration and disciplined technical development. Formula 1 teams sometimes struggle with internal silos and fragmented decision-making under extreme pressure. Ferrari is trying to change that by bringing people who are known for working across departments and solving complex challenges together.
The Power of Hybrid Expertise
Hybrids are central in both endurance racing and Formula 1, but they play a slightly different role in each. In WEC, the hybrid system helps the car sustain performance over long stints, reducing fuel consumption while maintaining speed, and aiding in energy recovery during braking over mixed track conditions.
Formula 1’s hybrid power units are also crucial, especially with the 2026 rules emphasising efficiency and electrification. WEC engineers have practical experience dealing with these systems in extremely demanding race conditions, which adds real value when applied to an F1 context. Being able to optimise hybrid deployment and battery performance can make a difference in lap time, especially over a season where every tenth of a second counts.
Ferrari’s endurance engineers have already proven they can develop systems that work in tough real-world environments, and that know-how can help the F1 team accelerate its learning curve for the 2026 car.
Ferrari Looking Forward to their 2026 season
Formula 1 is on the brink of a major reset with the 2026 regulations. These rules change how power units work, place emphasis on hybrid systems, and demand teams to innovate within tighter constraints. It is the biggest shift in the sport in years, and Ferrari views it as a chance to reset itself as well.
Rather than waiting to catch up with rivals who have already established momentum, Ferrari decided to strengthen its technical core by importing people who know how to excel in highly competitive racing conditions. This is not about abandoning endurance racing or favouring one series over another. It is about using internal expertise more effectively at a time when Ferrari needs it most.
The point is simple: Ferrari is trying to be smarter with its talent just as much as with its technology.
WEC engineers come with a record of building a championship-winning team under pressure. Formula 1 needs that type of consistency and reliability now more than ever.
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