Franz Tost to step down as AlphaTauri team principal at the end of 2023; Ferrari’s Laurent Mekies to take his place
Franz Tost will end an around 18-year stint as AlphaTauri team principal at the end of this season. As rumored, Laurent Mekies will be his replacement.
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Franz Tost (L) | Laurent Mekies (R)
Recently, a report emerged that Laurent Mekies was set to leave Ferrari and move to AlphaTauri. It was touted that he would work alongside Franz Tost, with a view to becoming the team principal. This exact scenario has materialized and has been now confirmed by the Faenza-based team. While announcing a restructuring of the senior management structure at AlphaTauri, they also confirmed that Tost will step down as the team principal at the end of the 2023 season.
Tost has served as the team principal of AlphaTauri (previously Toro Rosso) for almost the entirety of the team’s existence. He joined in 2005 after Red Bull acquired the Minardi F1 team. By the end of the season, he would have spent nigh on 18 years in the role. Earlier, he had expressed that he would definitely not be on the pit wall when he turns 70. He told the Dutch magazine Formule 1: “Before I turn 70, it’s really done.”
True to his words, he will end his role as team principal before turning 68. However, he will continue in a consultancy role in 2024. His replacement? Similar to what was touted in the reports, Mekies, currently ‘Racing Director’ at Ferrari will join AlphaTauri as team principal “at a date to be confirmed” in 2023. Moreover, Peter Bayer, who most recently served as the F1 Executive Director and Secretary General for Sport at the FIA, will join the team as Chief Executive Officer.
Franz Tost’s responsibilities will be split between Laurent Mekies and Peter Bayer
Laurent Mekies has previously worked at AlphaTauri back when they were known as Toro Rosso. He was at the organization since the Minardi days and was promoted to chief engineer when the team morphed into Toro Rosso. He stayed with the team until 2014 when he left to join the FIA. In 2018, he joined Ferrari as sporting director. Following some reports of him finding Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna’s working approach “cumbersome”, he will now return to AlphaTauri.
Mekies will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the team, while Peter Bayer will “oversee the strategic direction of the team at its facilities in Faenza and in the UK.” The two will carry equal responsibility, but serve in two distinct roles. Recently, on the ‘Beyond the Grid’, Yuki Tsunoda was posed the question of Sebastian Vettel replacing either Franz Tost or Helmut Marko. Well, at least for the moment, one of those two options has been taken up by someone else.
In a press release by AlphaTauri, Tost said: “It has been a true privilege to lead the Team for such a long period and a great pleasure to work with so many motivated and skilled people, who share my passion for Formula 1. With 67 years old it is time to hand over and with Peter as new CEO and Laurent as Team Principal, we found two very professional people, who will bring the Team to the next level. I want to thank everyone for the good cooperation.”
It’ll be interesting to see how AlphaTauri will fare with Mekies at the helm. Recently, there has been increasing pressure on the Faenza-based team to improve their performance. Helmut Marko had outright even said that their performances, or finances, don’t meet Red Bull’s standards. 2022 was incredibly disappointing, and 2023 doesn’t look like it will be much better. The Frenchman, and Peter Bayer, will have a hard task on their hand.
In case you missed it:
- “I don’t trust them anymore,” Franz Tost blasts Alpha Tauri engineers for failing to deliver at Bahrain
- “He is on the right track,” Franz Tost claims Yuki Tsunoda is nearly ready for a Red Bull move
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)