Laurent Mekies is confident a solution will be found as to when he will be released from Ferrari and allowed to take over as the new team principal of AlphaTauri.
A month ago, AlphaTauri announced that after 18 seasons at the helm, Tost would be leaving, with the team implementing a new management structure.
Alongside the appointment of former F1 executive and FIA secretary general for sport Peter Bayer as chief executive officer, the team has also recruited Ferrari sporting director Mekies to replace Tost as team boss.
The move, however, is still in the discussion stage, with Ferrari understood to be stalling on when it will allow Mekies to leave as it is negotiating with Red Bull the release of certain engineers.
Asked as to how much longer he would ‘be in red’, Mekies replied: “Well, the truth is a decision has not been made yet, so until that point…
“As you say, I’m wearing red, and as a result, I’m committed 100 percent to Ferrari, and to represent Ferrari in these sort of conditions.”
New Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has previously expressed his disgruntlement at the aggressive nature of AlphaTauri’s announcement, particularly as a release date had not been finalised before the news was made public.
Offering his view, Mekies added: “Well, first, I’m now wearing the red shirt, so it’s not something (about which) I’m going to come up with very many details.
“What is fair to say is that the reason why there are still discussions is probably also because people needed more time to talk to each other. That’s what they are doing now.
“I’m confident that gives them a little bit of time, and we’ll find a solution that will make all parties comfortable.”
For now, Mekies is refusing to discuss why he did not want to stay at Ferrari and work alongside Vasseur.
“I’m sure you will understand that this is probably where I stop in the level of details I can give you, at least for now,” said Mekies.
“It’s very important that we are all very competitive people, and please believe me, that when we come to a racetrack with a given shirt, we only think about that team and that race weekend.
“That’s how we have agreed to go forward for the time being and therefore I think your questions will be for a little bit later.”
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