Senior Ferrari employee rumored to receive offers from Alpine, Liberty Media and more

Rumors have been making the rounds that a senior Ferrari employee is receiving several job offers from Alpine, Liberty Media and other departments of F1. This employee is none other than Laurent Mekies, Assistant Team Principal and Race Director for the Italian team.

According to Formu1a.uno, Mekies is not too satisfied with the leadership of Ferrari's CEO, Benedetto Vigna. After the team's Chief Engineer, Vehicle Concept, David Sanchez, resigned last week. The next major figure who is rumored to leave is Mekies.

Fortunately for the French engineer, there are several teams and companies that are ready to employ him. Formu1a.uno has reported that Alpine, Liberty Media and even his former employer, the FIA, have sent him offers. Though there is a chance that Mekies could leave the Italian outfit, he will most certainly have to take a gardening leave before taking up his new role somewhere else.

Ferrari is going through several internal turmoils. Vigna recently expressed how he is unhappy with the new team principal, Frederic Vasseur, after the Bahrain GP.

Laurent Mekies leaving the Prancing Horse will be a huge blow to them as he is an integral part of the team and has been with them since 2018. This could massively affect them and their hopes of winning the world championship in 2023.

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Ferrari team boss is confident that SF-23 is capable of fighting the Red Bull

Frederic Vasseur is convinced that Ferrari's SF-23's pace and concept are good enough to fight Red Bull for the world championship. He explained how it is the setup of the car that needs improvements, not the concept itself. He said (via the official F1 website):

“I’m convinced, completely convinced about this. I never saw a car able to match the pace of another one in quali and not be able to in the race. It’s a matter of set-up and some choices on the car – it’s not a matter of concept at all.”

He further added:

"It’s never good to start with a DNF and I would’ve preferred to finish like Red Bull, for sure. But now I want to stay consistent in my position. I told the team before [the test] in Bahrain two weeks ago that the championship won’t be over in Bahrain – it doesn’t matter the result in any case. It was true for the winter test, and it’s true for [the first race].”

Ferrari had a poor start in the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP, with Charles Leclerc retiring due to wiring issues and Carlos Sainz unable to finish on the podium. However, Vasseur is well aware that it is only the first race of the season and they can turn their fortunes around as the year progresses.