Ex-Ferrari frontman Laurent Mekies bids goodbye to the Scuderia before starting stint at AlphaTauri
Laurent Mekies will be returning to AlphaTauri as their Team Principal after leaving the team for a role in the FIA back in 2014.
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Laurent Mekies (via Imago)
After serving at Red Bull‘s sister team AlphaTauri as the Team Principal for 18 long years, Franz Tost finally bid goodbye to the Faenza outfit and retire from his role. He spoke about his conversations with the late Red Bull supremo Dietrich Mateschitz as he did not want to be acting as the leader of a team when he becomes 70, and it is for this reason that he left his job at AlphaTauri at 67. He also mentioned he would still be attached to motorsports to some capacity, and might return to Red Bull in a consultancy role. Meanwhile, AlphaTauri have appointed Ferrari’s Laurent Mekies as their new Boss.
French engineer Laurent Mekies is known for being one of the most important figures behind the Scuderia Ferrari team. What is unknown to many is that Mekies started off in F1 as a part of Minardi, and when the team was acquired by Red Bull and rebranded into Toro Rosso (now called AlphaTauri), Mekies was made the Chief Engineer. Laurent Mekies left the Faenza outfit in 2014 for a brief stint as an FIA official. But he chose to become the Sporting Director of Ferrari in 2018. Since then, he has been promoted once to Assistant Team Principal and Race Director of the Scuderia.
But in mid-2023, it was suddenly announced that Laurent Mekies would be leaving his duties at Ferrari effective immediately. As a result, Diego Loverno was appointed to take over his role at the Maranello outfit. And now, Mekies is looking forward to returning to AlphaTauri as a Team Principal. But before starting his new stint, he bid goodbye to his previous home for 5 years.
As my chapter in Red closes, it is the moment to thank everyone at Scuderia Ferrari for 5 unforgettable years. We went through lows and highs together, we fought every day, and we gave it everything we could. My head and my heart are filled with incredible memories, which I will cherish for life.Laurent Mekies says, via RacingNews365.
AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer places hopes on Laurent Mekies
Laurent Mekies is set to take up his role at AlphaTauri as the new Team Principal amidst a period when the team has not been performing too well. The team ended their 2023 Championship campaign with only 25 points at the 8th spot on the standings–above Alfa Romeo and Haas. Going into 2024, the team will be headed by a new person in charge, and will also have Daniel Ricciardo as the new entrant into their line-up.
According to CEO Peter Bayer, AlphaTauri is lined up for greater things in the near future, under Laurent Mekies.
He's (Laurent Mekies) also come in with a very good network, he knows a lot of good people. Luckily, we've been successful in the recent weeks and months, it really helps, it's changing the dynamics of people to sign an agreement. That will be his [Laurent Mekies'] strength, and his daily focus is running the trackside operation of the team as a team principal.Peter Bayer said about Laurent Mekies entering AlphaTauri as Team Principal.
In other news, AlphaTauri will be using the Red Bull RB-19’s front suspension in their new car for the 2024 campaign. It is already well known that the RB-19 has been termed as a ‘rocketship’ due to the sheer speed it has displayed in the Grands Prix last year. Such has been its dominance on the grid that the Red Bull drivers won 21 out of the 22 races that were held in 2023, thanks to Adrian Newey’s brilliant creation.
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