Mekies soap opera continues: 'Finding a fair solution for all parties'

Meanwhile, it has been a while since AlphaTauri announced Laurent Mekies as the future team boss. The Frenchman is currently Ferrari's race director, but will eventually succeed Franz Tost as the main man at that other Italian team. When Mekies will actually make the switch is still unknown. Even in Spain, Ferrari and AlphaTauri could not clarify that.

Currently, Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri are in negotiations with Ferrari over when Mekies may make the switch. The teams under the Red Bull umbrella hope it will happen this season. That is by no means certain, as Ferrari wants a quid pro quo. Negotiations on that are currently ongoing.

Bayer as backup

During the press conference with team staff, Franz Tost, who is thus hoping to enjoy his retirement soon, was asked if there was any chance he would have to stay on longer? "I mean, no, no, we have Peter, if Laurent is not coming," he told the journalists present, including GPblog. "At least we have Peter Bayer. And therefore, I expect Laurent is coming then, earlier or later, at least at the beginning of January, the rest we will see."

Following the reply from the current AlphaTauri team boss, Frederic Vasseur was also allowed to respond. As Ferrari team boss, he is partly responsible for the fact that Mekies could not yet say goodbye to the Scuderia. "Laurent is still linked with us and we have to find a deal with Red Bull and AlphaTauri for this. But I think we will do it in a proper way because I don't want to block Laurent. I know him and I have a huge respect for Laurent. And even if we are competitors, at the end of the day, I think we have to find a fair solution for everybody."