Ferrari in turmoil as another senior figure poised to quit

Ferrari started the 2023 season with a power unit failure for Charles Leclerc at the Bahrain GP.

It has been reported by Formu1a.uno that another senior Ferrari figure is keen to follow in the footsteps of former head of vehicle concept David Sanchez and leave the Scuderia, due to “discontent” towards Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna’s management style.

The supposed individual is Ferrari’s race director Laurent Mekies, who has supposedly received several offers already to leave the Maranello-based team.

Mekies has supposedly received offers from Alpine, the FIA, and F1 owners Liberty Media to ditch Ferrari, suggesting that he’s certainly not short of options.

The race director has worked for the FIA before interestingly, meaning a reunion with the governing body could be on the cards should his relationship with Ferrari worsen.

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According to the report, Mekies is wanting to report directly to new team principal Frederic Vasseur instead of Vigna, whose presence in the team increased following Mattia Binotto’s departure.

Vigna’s management approach is reportedly “cumbersome”, resulting in Mekies considering a switch.

Vasseur is believed to be keen to keep Mekies in the team, with Ferrari having already lost Sanchez.

Losing Mekies would be a huge blow to the Italians, with the likelihood being that the Frenchman won’t be the final senior departure, with Inaki Rueda also considering a move.

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Rueda is supposedly unhappy at having been demoted from head of strategy during the winter break, meaning he could follow Mekies through the exit door.

Ferrari are not in a position where they can afford to lose so many senior officials, especially so early in the season.

Had they started 2023 well then perhaps it’d be a different story, but Charles Leclerc’s power unit failure at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix proved that the Italians have an awful lot of work to do.

The Bahrain GP was massively disappointing for Ferrari, who weren’t able to challenge Red Bull for the majority of the weekend.

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Leclerc came close to Red Bull in qualifying, but the Austrians still managed to lock-out the front row of the grid.

The Monegasque was also unable to do anything about Max Verstappen or Sergio Pérez during the race prior to his retirement, with the SF-23 having simply not been quick enough.

Ferrari’s immediate issue on-track is that Aston Martin are almost on a par with them, meaning the Italians could be at risk of slipping to third in the pecking order.