But the impact of the changes will also be felt more in Maranello’s future, as it presents another headache for Ferrari and its new team principal Fred Vassell.

Italy’s most famous team was already faced with the challenge of reversing the form of SF-23 to fight Red Bull and Mekis’ departure was far from ideal.

With Ferrari already losing experienced engineer David Sanchez to McLaren earlier this year, Mekis’ departure means Vasseur loses yet another high-profile figure.

As the saying goes, the loss of a senior person can be considered a misfortune. Losing two seems to be a rule.

Two high-profile exits, even if they’re completely unrelated, give the impression of a team on a downward spiral – the exact opposite of teams like Aston Martin who are building momentum and recruiting to build themselves.

When rumors of Mekis’ departure first surfaced just a few weeks ago, Vassell stressed that he sees the Frenchman as a key right-hand man going forward. In fact, he might be considered a long-term successor.

Asked about speculation about the future of Mekies, and the possibility of further departures when talking about employees being unhappy, Vasseur replied: “It’s two different things to make people unhappy. I think it’s nice to be unhappy when you don’t get the results you expect.” It’s normal, I’m very unhappy.

“But the most important thing is to work as a team, work as a team and try to get the best out of it and improve. Leave the company. That’s another story.

“If you want to talk about Laurent, I don’t know what happened to Laurent in the past, but I’ve known Laurent for 25 years, like this, when he was in school.

“I trust him, the cooperation between us is very good and he will be one of the pillars of the company in the future.”

Franz Tost to step down as AlphaTauri team leader at the end of 2023

Photography: Red Bull Content Pool

Mekis’ exit is bad news for Maranello, it’s not sugar-coated, but it’s equally wrong to see it as a fatal blow to the team and a sign that the team is now only going in one direction – towards Down.

Because while no one on the team would deny that Mekies’ exit wasn’t great, tying it too closely to Sanchez’s exit might be going too far. In fact, insiders say Sanchez’s departure has barely had any ripples within the franchise.

As someone close to former team boss Mattia Binotto and who helped lead the design direction of a car that has yet to rival Red Bull, his situation is very different from that of Mekis.

Now though will be the real test of Vasseur’s qualities as a team leader, to prove that Mekies’ departure was a blip rather than the beginning of an exodus.

Vasseur was recruited by Ferrari because of his reputation as a gritty fighter, and he will have to invoke those steely qualities frequently to solve problems in the coming weeks.

It will be crucial for him to support what’s going on inside the Maranello factory and use the leadership he’s brought to the fore in F1 to get everyone pointed in the right direction.

Those who know Vasseur well insist he hasn’t lost faith in things. Instead, they say he’s passionate about the task and has a way of digging deep and taking the necessary actions to pull things back together.

Crucial to all of this, of course, is performance. Because if Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz can show some signs of improvement, then that will be the biggest factor in turning the situation around.

The SF-23 is not a bad car. It was close to Red Bull in qualifying and we got some encouragement from the pace of Ferrari’s race at the Australian Grand Prix.

Now, while the Prancing Horse does need to make an extra leap to show that progress is coming, Vasseur’s belief in the entire car concept makes sense.

Because if the results are on track, all the noise in the background will suddenly disappear.

Will losing Mekis hurt Ferrari’s chances?

Photography: Ferrari