Carlos Sainz has admitted that he’s “happy” for Ferrari’s race director Laurent Mekies, who was confirmed as AlphaTauri’s new team principal.
The news was revealed ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, following an announcement by AlphaTauri that Franz Tost would be leaving the Faenza-based team at the end of the current season.
Whilst it’s expected that Mekies will take charge of AlphaTauri in 2024, a start date is yet to be agreed upon between Ferrari and AlphaTauri, given that Mekies is actually contracted to the Maranello-based team until 2025.
The move would certainly be a “step up” for Mekies, with Tost having led AlphaTauri since they entered Formula 1 in 2006, under the Toro Rosso name.
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Sainz is one person who’s really pleased for Mekies to have been offered such a great job, with the Spaniard admitting that the French engineer must “take it”.
“Personally – because I can only talk from my personal experience – he is a top guy,” Sainz said, as reported by Motorsportweek.com.
“Very valued, very strong figure. He’s taking a step up in his career so I can only be happy for him.
“I think, obviously, when you are offered such an important role, you have to take it.”
With Mekies set to leave at some point, it has been questioned why Ferrari are currently losing several high-profile employees, with former head of vehicle concept David Sanchez having joined McLaren last month.
Sainz, though, has silenced suggestions that the team are only losing staff, with the 28-year-old having shared that the Italians “are also hiring staff” but that more often than not “losses are sometimes quicker” than gains.
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“We are also hiring staff,” added Sainz.
“It’s not like we are only losing, we are doing the best also to restructure our team, to make it stronger. And I’m sure there’s going to be people arriving to compensate for these last few losses that we have.
“It’s just that sometimes the losses are sometimes quicker than what you manage to get people back, but I’m quite confident with Fred’s [Vasseur, team principal at Ferrari] approach, the management and the way it’s being handled, because I see good things coming too.”