(Motorsport) Laurent Mekies will leave his role as sporting director of Formula 1 team Scuderia Ferrari to replace Franz Tost as AlphaTauri team principal. Tost has been in charge of AlphaTauri, the sister team of Red Bull Racing since 18 years, ever since the Italian outfit entered the sport as Toro Rosso in 2006. Mekies previously worked with AlphaTauri as chief engineer and head of vehicle performance but departed in 2014 to work for the FIA.
Former FIA executive Peter Bayer will also join the team as chief executive to “oversee the strategic direction of the team at its facilities in Faenza and in the UK” while Tost will work in a “consultancy role”. AlphaTauri has said that Bayer will join the team “later this year” while Mekies’ start date is not yet confirmed but he will be in-charge for the start of the 2024 season. Mekies’ departure comes after former team principal Mattia Binotto was dismissed with Frederic Vasseur joining from Alfa Romeo. Ferrari also lost former head of vehicle concept David Sanchez who joined McLaren.
AlphaTauri said that Mekies will be “responsible for the day-to-day operation of the team, including technical, manufacturing, support function and race team operations and in conjunction with Peter’s strategically focussed role, they will create a new and dynamic leadership team with equal responsibility.”
“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,” Mekies said. “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.”
Tost has been a key figure at Red Bull’s junior squad for the last 20 years and has led the team to victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix when the team was called Toro Rosso and at Monza with AlphaTauri in 2020. The 67 year old has helped develop the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly. However, disappointing performances on track has led Tost to openly criticise his engineers in March with reports suggesting that he didn’t “trust them anymore”.
Speaking about his departure, Tost said “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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