Fred Vasseur won’t be alone at the pit wall in Baku this weekend
Laurent Mekies has officially been confirmed to take control of the AlphaTauri pit wall in the near future, presumably in 2024. The French manager arrived at Scuderia Ferrari in 2018, but controversies arose as he was essentially Charlie Whiting’s deputy within the FIA. Laurent Mekies will return to Faenza, where he grew up with the Red Bull satellite team from its foundation in 2006 until 2012.
Frederic Vasseur, the new team principal of Scuderia Ferrari, would have preferred not to lose a person that he had described as a “pillar” of the team, but at least for the time being, he will still have his “right-hand man” at the Ferrari pit wall. According to today’s edition of the Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport, in fact, Laurent Mekies will be regularly at his post in the Ferrari pit wall this weekend in Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The technicalities and terms of the now-concluded separation between Laurent Mekies and Ferrari still need to be defined in detail, and so the Frenchman will continue to perform his duties as racing director until then.
As Formula 1 expert Alberto Antonini emphasized for formulapassion.it, Laurent Mekies’ departure follows that of David Sanchez, and the exodus from Maranello may not be over yet. Frederic Vasseur has relatively little to do with these departures within Ferrari’s technical and managerial hierarchy because they are more the result of direct action by the ownership – particularly CEO Benedetto Vigna – on the Sports Management.
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Laurent Mekies expected to be among the candidates to succeed Mattia Binotto as the former team principal and managing director’s vice in every respect. The fact that he was not even considered must have weighed on the prospects and morale of the French manager, who evidently did not feel appreciated and decided to focus on a new experience, accepting a position of full responsibility in a non-primary team like AlphaTauri, which remains, in any case, Red Bull’s satellite team, or a potential springboard towards what is currently Formula 1’s most dominant team.
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