Laurent Mekies (born 28 April 1977) is a French engineer working as assistant team principal and race director for Scuderia Ferrari.

Career

Mekies graduated from Loughborough University after obtaining a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from the

École supérieure des techniques aéronautiques et de construction automobile École supérieure des techniques aéronautiques et de construction automobile (ESTACA) is a French engineering School, so called "Grande École", created in 1925. ESTACA is an Egineering school that trains engineers in aeronautics & aerospace e ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. In 2000, he started his career at Asiatech in

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One dri ...

before entering

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, working for Arrows. He switched to Minardi in the following years, where he worked as the race engineer for Mark Webber, Justin Wilson,

Zsolt Baumgartner Zsolt Baumgartner (born 1 January 1981) is a Hungarian former racing driver who raced for the Jordan and Minardi teams in Formula One. He remains the only Hungarian driver to have competed and to have scored a point in Formula One. Career Baum ...

and Christijan Albers. When the team was acquired by the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n energy drink maker Red Bull and renamed as

Scuderia Toro Rosso Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Re ...

at the end of 2005, he was promoted to be the team's chief engineer. Mekies left the Faenza-based team to join the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

in 2014 as safety director and was appointed F1 deputy race director in 2017. He moved to Scuderia Ferrari in September 2018 as

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

. He has been in charge of the Track and Performance department since 2019. In January 2021, he was appointed as Deputy Team Principal and Racing Director of Scuderia Ferrari.

References

1977 births Living people Alumni of Loughborough University Ferrari people Formula One engineers French automotive engineers French motorsport people Engineers from Tours, France French expatriates in England French expatriates in Italy {{France-engineer-stub