Frederic Vasseur has reaffirmed that Laurent Mekies is not a guaranteed exit from Ferrari, but he won’t block a move for the Scuderia’s sporting director.
Mekies was announced this week to be the new team principal of AlphaTauri from the 2023 season onwards, as Franz Tost is set to step down from the role. Vasseur, though, maintains that Mekies is still under contract in Maranello beyond the end of this year.
Despite the confusion, the Ferrari team principal insisted that he would not block Mekies moving to AlphaTauri, although the finer details of the switch had not been ironed out.
“I won’t block Laurent, for sure,” Vasseur told the media ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “I think they were a bit aggressive on the press release.
“We have a long-term contract with Laurent and we will have to discuss about this in the coming days.
“I’ve known Laurent for 30 years and it’s very difficult to refuse this kind of opportunity for him and he has been very open from the beginning.”
Split in two
Mekies’ replacement, should he leave, is yet to be determined, with Ferrari likely to undergo a reorganisation of the company before one is found.
Vasseur revealed that they could even split his role in two when the reorganisation happens, in order to lessen the workload on what is currently an expansive position.
“That decision (when Mekies leaves) will depend on the situation in the championship,” Vasseur added. “We’ll have to find the best for Ferrari when he leaves the company and when he joins AlphaTauri.
“The sporting director role is quite large and it will be a part of the reorganising of the company. So far, it is taking time but we are looking outside and we will have names quite soon and we could even split the job in two as other teams are doing.”
