The interconnections between Red Bull and Scuderia Ferrari continue relentlessly, and once again the Milton Keynes faction prevails, even though in this case it concerns the sister team, namely AlphaTauri. Laurent Mekies, who has been repeatedly linked to rumors of a possible departure, will in fact become the new Team Principal of the Faenza-based team.
Therefore the comments of Fred Vasseur, who had indicated the Frenchman as “a pillar of the future,” are firmly contradicted, and above all, the announcement of AlphaTauri was not anticipated or immediately followed by a Ferrari press release, is extremely surprising. However, we expect statements from Ferrari on this matter in the coming hours.
Franz Tost will retire and will be replaced by Laurent Mekies.
The current team principal of AlphaTauri, Franz Tost, will retire at the end of the 2023 Formula One season. The possibility of his retirement was a concrete rumor that had emerged in recent weeks, but the fact that Laurent Mekies would replace him is partly a surprise. Along with him, Peter Bayer will also arrive in the role of CEO, after having served as F1 Executive Director and Secretary General for Sport for the FIA.
Outgoing Scuderia AlphaTauri Team Principal Franz Tost explained: “First of all, I would like to thank Dietrich Mateschitz, who gave me the incredible opportunity to be Team Principal of Scuderia Toro Rosso and Scuderia AlphaTauri for the past 18 years. 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.”
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Incoming Scuderia AlphaTauri Team Principal and former Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies added: “Firstly, I’d like to pay tribute to Franz for the great job he has done over almost two decades in charge at Faenza. I wish him well for the future and I know that both Peter and I will rely on his input and advice in times to come. Looking forward, I am honoured to take on the role of Team Principal and to return to the team where I spent a large portion of my early career. Scuderia AlphaTauri has all of the ingredients necessary for greater success in the future and in tandem with Peter I’m looking forward to making that happen.”
Vasseur tried to convince Mekies to continue with the Maranello team
At the same time it is important to point out that Frederic Vasseur’s words were not unfounded because the Frenchman believed in fact that he could convince Laurent Mekies to stay with Scuderia Ferrari. But the offer of a role as Team Principal, with a significant salary increase that will partly have to be passed on to Ferrari (since Laurent had a penalty in case of departure) and the now lack of confidence in who really holds the reins of the Scuderia Ferrari team (Benedetto Vigna), eventually prevailed.
This determined Laurent Mekies to look around. Ferrari, however, remained reluctant to easily release the Frenchman, who also had offers from Alpine, the FIA, and Liberty Media, but in fact wanted to join the former Toro Rosso side, a team now in the middle to low end of the Formula One rankings.
