How VCARB plans to turn an historical 'weakness' into a strength

The new VCARB machine was unveiled in Las Vegas, with Mekies starting his first season as Team Principal, replacing Franz Tost in a period of big change for the former AlphaTauri squad.

Not only has it forged closer links with Red Bull by taking as many transferable components - previously non-listed parts - as the regulations permit, but the new team will also be moving to a new purpose-built factory in Milton Keynes to replace its Bicester facility.

At present, VCARB's main base is in Faenza but an outpost is located in the UK in Bicester where aerodynamic testing is carried out, but the split in the two locations has been historically regarded as a weakness in F1, with only Alpine and Haas following a similar trend with their Enstone/Viry and North Carolina/Maranello operations, respectively.

But Mekies, who left his role as Ferrari's sporting director to replace Tost is sure that the team can foster a winning environment across two locations.

"Historically in Formula 1, it's always been seen as a weakness to have two headquarters," Mekies exclusively told RacingNews365 at the launch of the VCARB.

"What we want to achieve is that what was historically a weakness, we want to turn it into a strength, so we are very happy to have two headquarters with one in Bicester and we are building a new one in Milton Keynes to transfer the people from Bicester to a brand-new HQ, hopefully by the end of the year.

"Obviously we have the historical headquarters of Faenza, and we are a technology company, nowadays, we are a competitive technology company and times have changed.

"We think there is a way to get people to work on both sides of the Channel, and that we can turn that into a strength.

"We can go on the job market and get the best people in the UK and in Europe and making our company a location-free company where communication flows and where we build the right environment with enough technology so we overtake the historical weaknesses."