Some quotes translated from a long article about AlphaTauri on AMuS 03.05.2023. You need a subscription to read it.
https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... s-ferrari/
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Initially, a sale was up for discussion if the price was right. The asking price was $850 million. There was even said to be an interested party from Kazakhstan, but the number was too hot for Red Bull. There were suspicions that Dmitry Mazepin was behind the money. Everyone is keeping their hands off Russian investors at the moment.
When it turned out that no one else was willing to pay the sum, intentions to sell were officially denied. Nothing depresses the price more than offering yourself on the market.
A second scenario was a complete move to England, but this is not so easy because of Italian labor laws. Nevertheless, it is a done deal that the engineering department will move step by step to England to be closer to Red Bull. A hundred people are already on the island anyway. Alpha Tauri uses the simulator and wind tunnel of the A-Team.
Thus, Mintzlaff had to be presented with new survival models for the continuation of two teams. For Red Bull it is eminently important to have an outpost. Also because of profitability, which is a high priority for the new management. In the event of a sale, access would be limited.
Alpha Tauri is a customer in the Red Bull wind tunnel, a customer for the company's own engine from 2026, and an alternative location for engineers that the company desperately wants to keep in its own camp but could not afford on its own under the budget cap. And the branch in Faenza is needed as a career ladder for talents from the company's own stable.
Accordingly, the solution accepted from the highest level could only be a new management with stronger ties to Milton Keynes. Team boss Franz Tost will step down at the end of the year and remain available to the racing team as a consultant.
His role will be shared by two new appointments in the future. Managing Director will be former FIA Secretary General Peter Bayer, who will determine the strategic direction of the racing team. Bayer was already under contract at Audi but was not happy there because there were too few tasks for him. Audi already has two generals on board in Andreas Seidl and Adam Baker.
Ferrari sports director Laurent Mekies is slated to be the new team boss. Mekies previously worked at Toro Rosso from 2004 to 2014, including as chief engineer, then moved to the FIA and from there to Ferrari in 2018. Now both parties are arguing about when Mekies will be released.
The 46-year-old Frenchman still has a contract with Ferrari until the end of 2025, after which he is reportedly banned from working for a year.
A leak in the system leaked the news to the Gazetta dello Sport that Mekies was on his way to his old team. The indiscretion came in handy for Red Bull. Facts were thus created. Two days later, Alpha Tauri sent out a press release announcing the personnel carousel at the top - with the caveat that it was not known when the new team boss could start. So Ferrari is being blamed for holding on to Mekies for too long. But that is only half the truth.
Ferrari, for its part, already has some Red Bull engineers on its hands. Reports in Italy that Aero boss Enrico Balbo is also said to be among them are obviously fiction instead of truth. If the engineers Ferrari has in mind are allowed to come to Maranello quickly, Mekies would also be free. Otherwise, Alpha Tauri will have to wait. Ferrari team boss Frédéric Vasseur made it clear that Ferrari's interests have priority in the Mekies case.
