Mekies to replace Tost as AlphaTauri team boss

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies will replace Franz Tost as boss of the AlphaTauri Formula One team after the 2023 season.

Mekies will take over as team principal on a date yet to be determined, with long-serving boss Tost moving into a consultancy role.

AlphaTauri, Red Bull’s second F1 team, will also hire former FIA executive Peter Bayer as CEO later this year.

Mekies will oversee the day-to-day operation of the team, with AlphaTauri saying CEO Bayer will be in a “strategically focused role”.

Tost has been a key pillar of the Italy-based team, which previously raced under the name Toro Rosso (Italian for Red Bull), since its arrival on the grid in 2005.

He joined as team principal and was tasked with guiding the early careers of Red Bull junior drivers, including Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz.

Tost also oversaw the team’s two F1 race wins, which both came at Monza, through Vettel in 2008 and Gasly in 2020.

“First of all, I would like to thank Dietrich Mateschitz, who gave me the incredible opportunity to be Team Principal of Scuderia Toro Rosso and Scuderia AlphaTauri for the past 18 years,” Tost said in a team news release.

“It has been a true privilege to lead the Team for such a long period and a great pleasure to work with so many motivated and skilled people, who share my passion for Formula One.”

Mekies worked previously at the team under Tost, first as a race engineer, before moving up into roles including chief engineer and head of vehicle performance.

In 2014, Mekies left Toro Rosso to become safety director and deputy race director for racing’s governing body, the FIA, before joining Ferrari in 2018.