Ferrari, Mekies’ departure for Alpha Tauri and Vasseur’s strategies

Vasseur had called him a “pillar” of the team a few weeks ago. For the new Maranello team principal, who has known Laurent Mekies for a lifetime, the Frenchman was solid and immovable in his role as Ferrari racing director. Instead, the 45-year-old engineer who had also worked closely with Mattia Binotto, leaves the red car and goes back to his origins: in Alpha Tauri, the former Toro Rosso and former Minardi where Mekies had taken his first steps in F1, first as race engineer and then as chief engineer and responsible for vehicle performance. On a date yet to be defined, he will take the lead of the Faenza team, the Red Bull cantera, in place of the 67-year-old Austrian Franz Tost, who will leave at the end of 2023 and will remain in 2024 as a consultant in the team he managed for 18 years with the boast of two successes (2008 with Vettel and in 2020 with Gasly).

What’s going on? In F1, jersey changes and engagements are quite common at all skill levels and roles. In Alpha Tauri other news: the former FIA Peter Bayer also arrives at the end of 2023 with the role of managing director. In recent seasons, Aston Martin has hired many technicians from Mercedes and Red Bull. In Ferrari, where new arrivals are not advertised also because they are often “second lines” however precious, something is slowly changing even at the top. Maranello has not yet issued a statement announcing Mekies’ departure. Nor obviously who will replace him.

Vasseur, who officially took the helm of the team on January 9, has already put his hand to the malfunctioning strategies at the beginning of the year, replacing Inaki Rueda with Ravin Jain. Some red reference figures disappeared from the team, such as Gino Rosato and Jonathan Giacobazzi. There will probably be other operations, although Vasseur himself said that there would be no revolutions in key roles. The head of the chassis, Enrico Cardile, is in fact the technical director even if not by appointment and would remain firm. As well as the engineer Enrico Gualtieri. However, the start of the championship for the red was certainly not exciting. And perhaps the ascent will be more complicated than expected. Major updates are expected, but the road could be long.

Anyone who sees career opportunities elsewhere, perhaps more room for maneuver than what is structurally possible in Maranello, seizes them. Obviously among these, Mekies who had arrived in Maranello in 2018: “Looking to the future, I am honored to take on the role of team principal and to return to the Scuderia where I spent most of my career. AlphaTauri has all the necessary ingredients for a more success in the future and, together with Peter, I can’t wait for that to happen.”

Meanwhile, starting in Baku with the first sprint race of the year on Saturday in its updated version with dedicated and abbreviated qualifying, Ferrari will have to find itself again after a month’s break from the last race in Melbourne which ended with zero points. There won’t be any major updates on the car, which will come from Imola onwards. But Vasseur says he is confident: “In recent weeks we have worked hard in Maranello on the development of the SF-23, both in terms of improving the current car package and in terms of planned updates, which will be introduced gradually over the next few races”. For the red, but not only, a benefit also comes on the engine front: the changes to the regulation have established that there will be 4 instead of 3 available to the teams for the entire season. Given the unreliability from which the SF 23 has already suffered too much, the field of possibilities is expanding. But there must be a solid and serene team, to play in it at its best.