Ferrari Exit 'Confirmed' Before Italian GP in Hamilton and Leclerc Blow

Ferrari are reportedly set to lose one of their key staff members in what could be a major blow to drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

The Scuderia compete in their home Italian Grand Prix at Monza this weekend.

They are already starting the weekend on the back foot, with Hamilton given a five-place grid penalty for a pre-race yellow flag infringement at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Ferrari have also had to rebuild both cars after Hamilton and Leclerc were involved in race-ending incidents in Zandvoort.

Leclerc suffered terminal damage after being hit by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, while Hamilton lost control in slippery conditions and glanced the wall coming out of turn three.

The team's attentions will no doubt already have largely turned towards the 2026 season, with neither Leclerc nor Hamilton in championship contention in 2025.

With a raft of new regulations coming into the sport that could completely shake up the grid order, it is imperative for each team to get the best possible understanding of how to best extract pace from the new cars.

But according to Corriere dello Sport, Ferrari's chief performance engineer Jock Clear is set to leave the team after 10 years.

The 61-year-old joined in 2015 and has acted as senior driver coach to Leclerc, as well as the senior driver performance engineer.

Clear has an extensive and acclaimed history in Formula 1, starting from when he was race engineer to Jacques Villeneuve during his championship-winning 1997 season.

He then worked with Takuma Sato and Rubens Barrichello through BAR Honda's various guises up until Brawn GP, and stayed with the team when they were taken over by Mercedes.

Clear became performance engineer to Michael Schumacher, and then to Hamilton, with the Brit winning his second Drivers' Championship in 2014.

Correire dello Sport add that Clear will also give up his role in charge of Ferrari's Driver Academy, which is to be taken over by the team's former reserve and test driver Marc Gene.

It is unclear who will take over his engineering responsibilities, however, with Ferrari yet to officially announce the news of his departure.