Loïc Serra is a French Formula 1 engineer who serves as Technical Director, Chassis at Scuderia Ferrari, a role he took up when he joined the team in October 2024. He was born on 30 March 1972 in Nancy, France. ¹

Education and background

Serra studied mechanical engineering at Arts et Métiers ParisTech (the engineering grande école formerly known as ENSAM), at its Aix-en-Provence and Paris campuses, building the grounding in vehicle dynamics that would define his career. ¹

“Wanting to remain in Formula 1, Serra joined the BMW Sauber team in 2006 as Head of Vehicle Performance.”

Michelin and the move into F1

Serra began in motorsport at Michelin, working first as a quality engineer in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, then at the company's main R&D centre in Clermont-Ferrand. There he worked on tyre concepts and, from 2002, on developing a new suspension system, his first deep contact with the demands of Formula 1. He stayed until Michelin withdrew from F1 in 2006. ¹

BMW Sauber and Mercedes

Wanting to remain in Formula 1, Serra joined the BMW Sauber team in 2006 as Head of Vehicle Performance. After BMW's withdrawal he moved to the new Mercedes works team in 2010, where he spent more than a decade, rising through chief vehicle engineer and head of vehicle dynamics roles to Performance Director. In that period Mercedes won eight consecutive Constructors' Championships, and Serra coordinated tyre, suspension, aerodynamic and power unit specialists across the team's dominant hybrid era, working closely with Lewis Hamilton. ^{1 4}

Remit at Ferrari

Ferrari announced in 2024 that Serra would move to Maranello, and he formally joined on 1 October 2024 as Chassis Technical Director, taking over the chassis remit previously held by Enrico Cardile, who left for Aston Martin. With Cardile gone he reports directly to Team Principal Fred Vasseur, and oversees five departments: chassis project engineering, vehicle performance, aerodynamics, track engineering and chassis operations. ³ His arrival, alongside fellow Mercedes recruit Jérôme d'Ambrosio, was framed as a key strengthening of Ferrari's technical leadership around Hamilton's switch to the team. ²

The SF-26 and 2026

Serra's first car designed largely on his watch is the SF-26 (internally Project 678), Ferrari's first machine to the 2026 regulations, developed alongside power unit chief Enrico Gualtieri and unveiled at Fiorano in January 2026. It represents a complete rethink of the car's architecture after the unsuccessful SF-25, and has proved markedly more competitive, carrying Ferrari to second in the Constructors' Championship and a maiden Ferrari win for Hamilton at Barcelona. ⁵ Serra has also been credited with new wheel-rim technology introduced to help Ferrari manage tyre temperatures, a long-standing weakness. ⁴

Bottom line

Serra brings a vehicle-performance and tyre pedigree forged at Michelin and a championship-winning Mercedes operation. Why he matters: as Ferrari's chassis technical chief he was central to the SF-26's turnaround, making him one of the figures most responsible for whether the Scuderia can convert its 2026 reset into titles. ⁵