Ferrari-Red Bull, clash over engineers and Mekies. What’s behind it – Corriere.it

In Baku Charles Leclerc had to give up almost immediately in the race after taking two poles and a second place in the Sprint Race. He couldn’t defend himself from Verstappen and Perez, who were too fast in the race, and he thought about saving the tires to protect his first podium of the season: They’re from another category, he said.

Third place doesn’t make him happy given the gap of more than 20 seconds from the Mexican, but at least a starting point. But between Ferrari and Red Bull the competition is much more heated off the track than on the inside. There is a transfer market intrigue that is igniting the paddock and the fans’ fantasies: made up of teasing, slights, small spites. Of attempts to bring home, and the other side to protect the best brains. In Maranello they know that to be competitive again they have to bring in engineers from outside who bring fresh ideas and new methods, who know the secrets to winning in this cycle of rules based on aerodynamics and ground effect.

Ferrari, following the example of Aston Martin, has bet some men from Red Bull. Impossible to reach the magician Adrian Newey – he had tried in the past with fabulous offers, but it seems that he didn’t want either to move to Italy or to lose the autonomy granted to him by the Milton Keynes team with which he extended his contract and got a new role-, so he treated with his closest collaborators. One of these would be Enrico Balbo, head of aerodynamics. Piedmontese, he graduated from the Turin Polytechnic in aerospace engineering. He started in Formula 1 with Williams and then moved to Mercedes where he was considered one of the best (along with Eric Blandin, who moved to Aston Martin).

Red Bull took him from rivals and gave him increasing responsibilities. But not one man alone is not enough for the relaunch, which is why Vasseur spoke of 30 new figures hired by June. Among these, according to Motorsport.com there would also be one of the engineers who developed the deadly Drs – the mobile wing – of Red Bull. One of the devices that makes Verstappen and Perez’s car uncatchable. We’re figuring out how they manage to get such high top speeds, Vasseur almost said at the end of the Baku GP.

Ferrari’s activism would have irritated the top management of Milton Keynes, whose response would have been the rudeness of the surprise announcement of Laurent Mekies as AlphaTauri team principal without discussing the timing of the release with the other party. A move that has created embarrassment and annoyance in Maranello should be included in a negotiation on periods of forced rest, gardening of the technicians who will move from England to Italy. Generally for key figures we talk about a year to avoid moving with plans for the future.

Although Helmut Marko denies that the two events are connected, Mekies will also be on the wall regularly at the Miami GP this weekend. And another clue to Ferrari’s intentions, which has no desire to release him in a hurry. Not without a counterpart.