AlphaTauri is committed to bounce back after an underwhelming 2023 season. That commitment shows in how they have gone all guns blazing in hiring the right personnel for the job. Among those additions are two Ferrari key figures- Laurent Mekies and Marco Matassa.
After Franz Tost’s departure, AlphaTauri roped in Mekies from Ferrari to take over the job as team principal. Mekies was a part of Scuderia Ferrari since 2018, when he joined them as the team’s sporting director. Ferrari, in terms of brand value, is surely a much bigger team than the Faenza-based outfit. While it is a step backward for him in that sense, the newer designation certainly is a step up, as he can guide AlphaTauri to new heights.
Working for the Faenza-based team is not a new experience for him, though. The 46-year-old worked with them in the past when they had the Toro Rosso badge. Back then, the French engineer worked in the capacity of the team’s chief engineer. Mekies’ association with Toro Rosso dates back to the time when it was still Minardi as the rebranding happened after the Red Bull takeover.
Matassa shares a similar journey. Known for his expertise in nurturing young talent, Matassa was the head of Ferrari’s Driver Academy. Associated with F1 since the 1980s, Matassa has worked with several teams including Williams and Benetton. During his time with the Maranello team, Matassa also got the chance to work as Kimi Raikkonen’s race engineer, as per Autosport. Like Mekies, Matassa too worked with Toro Rosso back in the day. He served as race engineer to their former drivers – Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz.
A report from Corriere dello Sport claims that Mekies had a role to play in poaching Matassa. The report also states that more people from Ferrari could follow Mekies and Matassa as Red Bull’s sister team enters a whole new era.
AlphaTauri needs to take some strong steps to overcome the slump from 2023
AlphaTauri started the 2023 season with a number of pressing issues. The team then tilted its development program in a Red Bull-inspired direction late into the season which gave them better results. However, by that time, it was too late to make a major impact on the championship standings. Nevertheless, they managed to salvage 8th position in the standings with a gap of just 3 points behind Williams. Considering they were last for the majority of the campaign, this was a fairly decent end.
An issue that plagued the team was the uncertainty in the driver lineup. They sacked Nyck de Vries in the middle of the season to bring Daniel Ricciardo in. The Australian driver, however, injured himself after just two outings, and Liam Lawson came into replace the Aussie.
Regardless, the team placed their faith on Ricciardo upon his return, and the Perth-born driver will start the 2024 season driving for them.
Ricciardo could emerge as a key figure for the team in 2024. His experience can help AlphaTauri engineers gather some crucial inputs on the car’s development. Moreover, his experience as Red Bull’s development driver could come in handy as he can steer his current team’s direction in the tried and successfully tested route.
His teammate Yuki Tsunoda can not be taken lightly either. The Japanese driver has spent his fair share of time in F1 now and is capable of guiding the team in the right direction. If the two drivers manage to work in tandem, AlphaTauri can see itself fighting in the midfield once again.
