Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies is set to depart the Scuderia and join Faenza-based outfit AlphaTauri, according to a report from Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
Mekies move to the Red Bull sister outfit would be a homecoming of sorts for the Frenchman who worked as a race engineer at Minardi in the early part of his F1 career before the team was acquired by Red Bull in 2005 and renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Rumors of Mekies departure from Maranello first emerged at the end of the last season in the wake of the exit of former Scuderia boss Mattia Binotto.
It was suggested at the time that Mekies was unhappy to have not been selected by Ferrari’s top brass as Binotto’s successor, with former Sauber team boss Frederic Vasseur chosen instead by chairman John Elkann and CEO Bendetto Vigna as Binotto’s replacement.
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It’s unclear if Mekies’ move to AlphaTauri – should it happen – would take place this season or in 2024.
At Faenza, the French engineer is likely to work alongside current team boss Franz Tost to help the latter improve the team’s lacklustre performance of late.
Ahead of the start of the 2023 season, amid rumors that Red Bull’s new management team in Austria could seek to off-load the underperforming F1 asset, Helmut Marko admitted that the bull’s sister outfit was under scrutiny.
Although Marko pushed back on rumors of an outright sale, he insisted the team was up against the wall this season and absolutely needed to improve its results to justify its parent company’s continued investment.
Furthermore, Tost conceded recently that at 67 he does not see himself remaining at the helm of the F1 outfit beyond the next three years, which undeniably opens up an opportunity for Mekies to become Tost’s de facto successor.
Mekies’ exit from Ferrari would mark the second big name to leave Maranello this year, with the Scuderia’s former designer and head of Vehicle Concept David Sanchez resigning to join McLaren at the start of 2024.
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