Laurent Mekies’ future at Ferrari has been in doubt ever since Mattia Binotto was shown the door at Maranello, and a recent report in Italian media claims he is in fact heading to AlphaTauri.
Laurent Mekies joined Ferrari as Race Director from the FIA back in 2021, and was a main figure on the Ferrari pit wall ever since, even deputizing for former team boss Mattia Binotto at certain races when the Swiss-Italian would not attend staying behind at Maranello.
However, since Binotto was “resigned” from Ferrari ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season, and with the team seemingly in turmoil as they have had a rocky start to their 2023 campaign under the new leadership of Frederic Vasseur.
The new car for 2023, the SF-23 seems to be worse that its predecessor, suffering from reliability problems, not to mention its appetite for tyres during races, a chronic problem that marred the F1-75 in 2022.
A report in La Gazzetta dello Sport claims that Mekies is in fact on his way out of Maranello and will be heading to Faenza to join AlphaTauri, a team he previously worked for when it was called Minardi in 2022 one year after kickstarting his F1 career with Arrows in 2001.
A reunion with former boss Franz Tost?
Mekies remained in Faenza for 12 years working for the team under the Toro Ross moniker alongside team boss Franz Tost. He left the sport in 2014 and joined the FIA where he held the role of Safety Directorbecoming a Deputy Race Director to the late Charlie Whiting in 2017.
Mekies returned to Ferrari in 2018, a move that caused dismay among other teams at the time, due to his previous role at the FIA.
The report claims that Mekies was not satisfied with the top brass choosing to hire Vasseur instead of promoting him to take over the role of the ousted Binotto.
At AlphaTauri, Mekies would reunite with his former boss, Tost, who has recently been making some noises about retiring, not planning to remain active in F1 at the age of 70. Tost is now 67.
While there were reports linking Sebastian Vettel with a role at AlphaTauri, as a stepping stone ahead of a future role with Red Bull, probably replacing Dr. Helmut Marko, Meskies’ move to AlphaTauri, should it materialize, would place the Frenchman perfectly to replace Tost should he decide to quit.
In the meantime, Ferrari are currently fourth in the 2023 F1 Constructors’ Standings.