Laurent Mekies

Laurent Mekies is a French engineer who became the racing director at Ferrari in 2021. With more than twenty years of experience in Formula 1, he has previously worked with teams such as Arrows, Minardi, Toro Rosso, and the FIA. Since 2024, he has been the team principal of Racing Bulls, previously known as VCARB, AlphaTauri, and Toro Rosso.

Laurent Mekies began his motorsport career in 2000 with the Formula 3 team Asiatech. In 2001, he made the move to Formula 1, joining Arrows, where Jos Verstappen and Enrique Bernoldi were part of the driver line-up at the time. A year later, he became a race engineer at Minardi in Faenza, where he would stay for the following twelve years.

When the team was renamed Scuderia Toro Rosso at the end of 2005, Mekies was appointed as the chief engineer. Later, he would rise to the position of Head of Vehicle Performance. During his eight seasons at Toro Rosso, Mekies worked with various drivers, including Daniel Ricciardo, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed, Sebastien Bourdais, Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi, Jean-Eric Vergne, and Christijan Albers.

In 2014, Mekies left Toro Rosso to join the FIA as the safety director. In this role, the Frenchman was responsible for all safety and medical matters across all FIA championships. In 2017, he was appointed as the deputy race director alongside Charlie Whiting.

In September 2018, Mekies joined Ferrari as the sporting director, which was met with considerable displeasure from rival teams. The Frenchman had to immediately relinquish his F1-related duties at the FIA and only appeared at Ferrari's pit box during the final race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In 2019, when Mattia Binotto was appointed as team principal, Mekies took on additional responsibilities, overseeing the Track and Performance department alongside his existing role. In January 2021, he was promoted to deputy team principal and racing director of the Italian team, becoming more prominent during press events.

In 2022, Ferrari had made a strong return to the top after two extremely difficult years. The Italian team engaged in a fierce title fight with Red Bull Racing, but they often faltered in various areas. Binotto refused to point fingers, but this approach ultimately cost him his job, and he had to make way for former Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur in 2023. Mekies also played a key role in Ferrari's restoration of their reputation.

Mekies from Ferrari to Racing Bulls

In mid-2023, Mekies announced he would leave Ferrari. He was seeking a role as team principal, and he got the opportunity at Racing Bulls (formerly VCARB, AlphaTauri, and Toro Rosso). In 2025, he will lead the team with Yuki Tsunoda and rookie Isack Hadjar in the line-up.