Rumor: Mekies to leave Ferrari for AlphaTauri (2nd Update)

This rumor is upgraded to ‘fact’ with today’s announcement that Laurent Mekies will replace Franz Tost as Team Principal of the AlphaTauri F1 team at the end of 2023

(GMM) Ferrari’s sporting director Laurent Mekies looks set to return to Faenza.

The 45-year-old Frenchman worked initially for Minardi, which became Red Bull’s second Formula 1 team – where Mekies worked in prominent technical roles before he was poached by Ferrari in 2014.

Now, according to Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport, Mekies is returning from Maranello to Faenza-based Alpha Tauri – just as rumors swirl that long-time team boss Franz Tost, 67, could be replaced.

Mekies “has already signed on and could move this year”, correspondent Luigi Perna said. “Will he be the team principal after Tost?

“It was no secret that Mekies wanted to leave Ferrari,” he added. “The arrival of new team principal Frederic Vasseur, with whom he attended college, did not change the situation.”

Perna said Mekies could make the move in 2023 if Ferrari and Alpha Tauri agree, “otherwise it will be 2024”.

“Tost recently expressed his intention to leave F1 within three years, so it could be an opportunity for Mekies to take command of the team in 2026.”

–by Mark Cipolloni–

When Frederick Vasseur was hired to be the new Ferrari F1 boss you knew it was only a matter of time before heads would roll and/or those in jeopardy would sign to work somewhere else.

Laurent Mekies was a name that always came up as being vulnerable given the team’s poor performance on race days, which he was responsible for.

Ferrari Racing Director Laurent Mekies is poised to join the AlphaTauri Formula 1 team, RacingNews365.com rumors from its Italian sources.

According to their sources, Mekies will be working alongside Team Principal Franz Tost, and it is expected to be part of a wider personnel rearrangement at the Faenza team.

This is not at all surprising and, if true, Mekies will return to a team he formerly worked for before it was AlphaTauri.

It will remain to be seen whether Mekies will be on gardening leave until the end of the year if his departure from Ferrari is confirmed.