FIA again in the spotlight. Laurent Mekies, current deputy race director at the FIA, has decided to leave his job to go to Ferrari. It is not the first time it happens. Marcin Buskowski set a precedent when he also left FIA. He was supposed to be the substitute for Charlie Whiting at the helm of the F1 race management, as well as managing privileged information as he was in charge of communicating with the teams about legal questions about innovations. Marcin left the FIA and went to Renault with all that information.
Ferrari has not been slow to copy the strategy of the French team. Again, the one who was to be the substitute for Charlie Whiting when he leave his position, Laurent Mekies, leaves the FIA to go to the Maranello’s team. Mekies was sub-director of F1 races and immediately leaves this position. He will be able to continue in his position as security director.
According to the regulations, Mekies will not be able to join Ferrari until September, when Ferrari will have an unpayable source of information. The complaints of the teams to the FIA after Marcin Buskowski left, led to a change in the regulation that was to double the waiting time that has to pass to be able to exercise the new job. It has served little.
Mekies joined the FIA in 2014 and benefited from the departure of Marcin Buskowski to move up to the position he held until the announcement of his departure. Charlie Whiting has run out of two of his natural successors and the FIA should rethink the system to prevent these departures from becoming a normal situation.
