F1 Rumour: Ferrari Lose Racing Director To AlphaTauri In Surprise Move
According to reports from Italy, it appears that Laurent Mekies, the current Ferrari Racing Director, is gearing up to join the AlphaTauri Formula 1 team. If the news is true, he will be working in tandem with Team Principal Franz Tost, as part of a wider personnel reshuffle taking place at the Italian team.
This comes after the news that Red Bull will be giving their sister team more help from 2024 in the form of previous parts and personnel. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has previously made it clear that the Italian team need to find improvements to meet the expectations.
AlphaTauri is currently sitting in ninth place in the constructors' standings after the first three races, with Yuki Tsunoda putting one point on the board in Australia and Nyck de Vries finishing out of the points so far. Marko explained that the aim for the team is to finish fifth in the constructors' championship.
The recent signing of Lars Stegelmann, who joined the AlphaTauri team as Head of Commercial in March, has further helped to squash rumours that the team is to be sold. Despite several offers from potential buyers, including one that was reportedly worth at least $800m and subsequently rejected, AlphaTauri's restructuring points to it being off the market for the foreseeable future.
AlphaTauri, formerly known as Toro Rosso, was founded in 2006 by Red Bull as a development team for young drivers. Over the years, it has played a crucial role in nurturing talented drivers, including Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, and Max Verstappen, who now competes for Red Bull Racing.
Mekies previously worked for Toro Rosso as the chief engineer in 2005 before moving to work for the FIA in 2014 as the safety director. The Frenchman moved once again to Ferrari in 2018 where is the racing director.
The rumour of Mekies moving to AlphaTauri has not been confirmed by either Red Bull, AlphaTauri, or Ferrari at this stage.