SUMMARY
- Laurent Meikes looks to sign former Haas Sporting Director, Simone Resta for the 2024 season.
- Resta's contract with Haas ended after the 2023 season.
AlphaTauri has been making headlines for the past few days with its potential name change. However, this is not the only change for the 2024 season. The team is also undergoing some major changes in the leadership.
Franz Tost, who has been the team principal for AlphaTauri since the beginning when it was called Toro Rosso, has decided to call it a career after the 2023 season. This allowed former Ferrari racing director, Laurent Meikes to climb up the ranks to become a team principal in F1. From the 2024 season, Meikes will be leading the team as they continue to drive beside Red Bull.
AlphaTauri to recruit former sporting director of Haas F1
Meikes has decided to make some more changes to his appointment. It has been reported that he is going after the former sporting director of Haas and fellow Italian, Simone Resta who is currently out of a contract for the 2024 season.
Simone’s term with Haas ended after the completion of the 2023 season. It is unclear if he has been offered a contract extension. Given that Haas is also undergoing changes in their leadership, it is probable that they will be looking to change some key members of the team.
Geruchtencircuit | ‘Mekies wil voormalig sportief directeur van Haas naar AlphaTauri halen’ #formule1 #f1 https://t.co/mToDqtZgAc
— F1Maximaal.nl (@F1Maximaal) January 22, 2024
If AlphaTauri goes after Resta for the role of Sporting Director, it will take some load off Laurent. The newly appointed team principal has also served as the Sporting Director for Ferrari. Hence, he could have taken care of this role as well. But this would require him to compromise on his role as team principal.
It will be interesting to see how Meikes adjusts to the Red Bull family. The Austrians are known to be very critical of their drivers. However, they have not changed their leadership since the beginning. This is the first time the Red Bull group is changing one of their team principals.
Is AlphaTauri running the RB19 for the 2024 season?
Earlier in 2023, it was rumored that AlphaTauri would be running a version of the RB19 in 2024. Since Red Bull will be upgrading their car to the RB20, the team can share a limited amount of information concerning the designs of the RB19. This could allow us to see a version of the RB19 back on track in 2024 as well.
Given that the RB19 dominated F1 in 2023, AlphaTauri could prove to be stronger than expected in 2024. The team has chosen to retain their driver lineup with Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda. Both the drivers gave some impressive performances in 2023. They will be looking to do the same in 2024 as well.
⚠️| Reports suggest that AlphaTauri (to be renamed) will run the RB19 next year🤔
In the Sky Sports F1 podcast Crofty suggests – “there are lots of reports that the plan is that they (AT) run this year’s Red Bull next year.”
“Which has happened before, Super Aguri ran a… pic.twitter.com/WM3li6xoCN
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) August 3, 2023
It has also been rumored that Ricciardo will be replacing Sergio Perez at Red Bull in the 2025 season. So having a version of the RB19 in 2024 will help him get adjusted to the Red Bull’s designs. It has also been reported that AlphaTauri will be shifting their bas from Faenza to Milton Keynes in the coming weeks.
If AlphaTauri proves to be too strong with the RB19, we could see 3 Red Bull drivers on the podium as well. There is no doubt that Max Verstappen will be up there given his form. Sergio Perez has also been able to finish on the podium several times in 2023. If Daniel or Yuki can also get on the podium in the same race, it would make Red Bull’s day.