During the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri bid farewell to Josh Kruse, the social media manager for the team. Tsunoda conveyed his gratitude and well wishes to Kruse over the team radio as it was announced that Kruse would leave Faenza to join Scuderia Ferrari in Maranello.
Tsunoda affectionately thanked Kruse for their three years together and wished him success in his future endeavors with Ferrari, saying, “Thank you, Josh. Thank you for the last three years! Good luck at Ferrari, bye bye,”. Josh Kruse, in his new role, will be responsible for managing the content of the social media accounts for the Ferrari team.
Yuki Tsunoda and the AlphaTauri crew bid him farewell following the race, affectionately throwing him into a nearby pond. Taking to Twitter later on to announce his departure, Kruse said, ” Today was my last race with AlphaTauri, my family for the past five and a half years. I’ll do a better post later, but for now, thanks Yuki Tsunoda for organising my bath,”.
Kruse has now moved from the Faenza factory to Maranello to manage Ferrari’s content, both stationed in Italy. From what many gauged to be a departure of an engineer from Tsunoda’s radio, that isn’t the case here.
Yuki Tsunoda’s radio message was initially interpreted as a possible engineer trade
Laurent Mekies has agreed to a move to AlphaTauri from Ferrari and is set to take over as team boss in 2024. However, reports largely indicated that the Scuderia would not make his departure simple by any means, reportedly demanding Red Bull engineers in exchange for the Frenchman.
After the initial team radio from Tsunoda, many assumed Kruse to be an engineer, as the identity of social media heads is not usually extensively known by the public. Thus, it was attributed to the Mekies deal, a part of an exchange to facilitate his quick transition to Faenza from Maranello. However, it was quickly clarified that Kruse was the social media head at Faenza.
Not sure if Ted actually said that but an engineer isn't correct, it's the brilliant @joshkruseF1 who is heading to work on Ferrari's content. Love that Yuki gave him a send off (he's blatantly going in the rowing lake too) #F1 https://t.co/VyvwDqtiYx
— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) June 18, 2023It is reported that Laurent Mekies will make his final public appearance in red (presumably Ferrari) at the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. This race is scheduled for just before the customary summer break in F1. After his appearance in Budapest, Mekies is expected to be on gardening leave for a few months before he assumes his new role at AlphaTauri.
The situation regarding Laurent Mekies seems to have been resolved following a crucial meeting involving Ferrari Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari president John Elkann, and Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull Racing. This meeting reportedly took place during the Monaco Grand Prix last month. Thus it seems the Frenchman is finally on his way to Faenza after an intense saga.
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