Scuderia Ferrari has risked bringing fresh controversy to Formula 1 by bringing in Laurent Mekies, FIA’s safety and deputy race director, into their team.
After the Renault Sport Formula One Team hired FIA technical chief Marcin Budkowski last September, rival teams were critical of the move, with fears being raised that he would bring the secrets from other teams to the Enstone-based squad, and similar problems could arise with Mekies appointment.
Mekies joined the FIA back in 2014, and has been overseeing all of the Safety and Medical matters for them, and ahead of the 2017 season added the role of Deputy F1 Race Director to his duties, working alongside Charlie Whiting and dealing with primarily the sporting matters within the sport.
He will remain as FIA Safety Director until he departs the organisation in June, but will cease all Formula 1 duties, including the Deputy F1 Race Director role, with immediate effect before joining Ferrari in an unspecified technical role alongside Mattia Binotto in September.
Mekies has been involved in Formula 1 since 2001 when he joined the Arrows F1 Team before switching to the Minardi F1 Team the following season, and remained with the Faenza-based team when they became Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2006.
