Share

New Ferrari signing knows 'key details of every car'

Cape Town - Ferrari's new signing Laurent Mekies will join the Scuderia knowing "key details of every single" rivals' car; that's according to Frederic Vasseur. 

Ferrari's rivals are up in arms about the Scuderia's signing of Mekies, the FIA's safety director. 

He will join the Italian team later this year after a spell of gardening leave but will still have knowledge of "every single car" on the grid. 

This is not the first time that the FIA and teams have faced this decision with Marcin Budkowski soon to take up his position with Renault having previously worked as the FIA's F1 technical director. 

Vasseur told Autosport: "It's a shame that we are not in the situation that the FIA could find a solution to keep their key guys. 

"I remember perfectly the situation with Marcin, he was in all the wind tunnels two weeks before he left. 

"Laurent is aware of key details of every single car, even if he was more focused on safety he's aware of the key structure. 

"At one stage, if we can't trust them it will be an issue because we need to be very open with the FIA. 

"We need to ask them if we're in the regulations or not. If we are scared about this, it will be the beginning of a mess." 

Meanwhile Force India's chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer believes such is Mekies' knowledge that he should be placed on gardening leave for a year. 

He said:: "The time between leaving the FIA and starting at Ferrari should have been increased to at least a year. 

"It's difficult to stop people from moving from the FIA to teams but that time you have to sit out should be big enough to where you can't take intellectual property from one team because you have a privileged position at the FIA to another. That's not fair."

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Should Siya Kolisi keep the captaincy as the Springboks build towards their World Cup title defence in 2027?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes! Siya will only be 36 at the next World Cup. He can make it!
26% - 1273 votes
No! I think the smart thing to do is start again with a younger skipper ...
29% - 1470 votes
I'd keep Siya captain for now, but look to have someone else for 2027.
45% - 2247 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE