by STEFANO OLLANU
Mekies, a troubled farewell
As many fans will remember, when Mattia Binotto left Ferrari at the end of 2022, one of the first loyalists of the former Maranello team principal destined to abandon the team seemed Laurent Mekies.
Despite the appreciation of Frederic Vasseur, who in March had defined it as ‘a pillar’, a month later the ex-FIA engineer’s intention to leaving the Prancing Horse to land in Alpha Tauri, as team principal instead of Franz Tost. Ferrari had explained that it did not like the ‘aggressiveness’ of the press release from the minor Red Bull team kept the Tours engineer on the team until the Hungarian race at the end of July.
The wait and the adventure in Alpha Tauri
And so Mekies was unable to join his team at the start of the season and – after the traditional period of gardening leave – will be able to drive Alpha Tauri for the 2024 championship: “At first, when I realized I would have to wait all these months, it was a little frustratingas you would like to change immediately and think about how you can contribute to the team.”
In the interview granted to Autosport Awardshe then continued, looking for the positive side of the story: “The truth is, if you jump from one team to another, you’ll likely get absorbed in the intensity of the racing calendar. So for me it was basically very fortunate to have to take a step back and be able to look at the bigger picture. I had the chance to think about how to do many things,” concluded the new Alpha Tauri team principal.
#Mekies #recalls #farewell #Ferrari #months #gardening #frustrating