During the Belgian Grand Prix, Alpine announced that team principal Otmar Szafnauer would be leaving the team. Photo: Getty Images/Kenzo Tribouillard
Alpine has announced that team principal Otmar Szafnauer will be leaving the team “by mutual agreement” following this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, while longtime sporting director Alan Permain and engineer Pat Fry will also be leaving Enston.
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Team The announcement comes less than a week after group chief executive Laurent Rossi was sacked and also after a nightmarish Hungarian Grand Prix where both Alpine riders, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, were eliminated after just two racing laps due to colliding with each other in a multi-car crash.
Safnauer has a long career in sports: BAR/Honda, Force India, Aston Martin, and now Alpine.
But the truly colorful American became famous thanks to the popular Netflix Formula 1 show Drive to Survive, which dedicated a lot of time for his tense relationship with Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll, and then last season for the incautious loss of Alpine Fernando Alonso to his former employers, as well as to up-and-coming racing driver Oscar Piastri at McLaren.
Safnauer could point to the team's fourth place in last year's Constructors' Championship as evidence that the team was moving forward under his leadership.
But this season the American has come under intense pressure, with Rossi criticizing the “unacceptable” and “amateurish” » start of the team's season in June.
Schafnauer was a guest on the Beyond the Grid podcast this week, where he expressed his confidence that he would be given time to change Alpine. But rumors that he, Fry and Permaine were being fired began swirling in the Spa paddock on Friday morning, and Alpine released a statement shortly after a rainy FP1.
“Otmar will continue his duties as usual for the race this weekend in Belgium before leaving the team ahead of the summer break,” the statement said. “The team would like to thank Otmar for his hard work over the past 18 months and for leading the team to fourth place in the 2022 Constructors' Championship. The team wishes him all the best for the future.”
Permane, who has been with the Enstone team for 34 years and became famous as “Witness X” in the 2009 Singapore controversy, will also retire after this weekend's race, while Fry has taken on the same CTO job at Williams.
Alpine statement continued: “Bruno Famin, Vice President of Alpine Motorsports, will take on the role of interim BWT Alpine F1 Team Leader starting with the Dutch Grand Prix. The current director of the Alpine Academy, Julian Rose, has been named interim sporting director, while Matt Harman leads the technical team at Enston. Both Julian and Matt will report to Bruno Famin.”
Less than 10 minutes after the release of the statement, Famin was already at the press conference of the team leaders in Spa.
According to the Frenchman. the changes were made to “move faster in terms of achieving the level of performance we are aiming for.”
“We had different views on [the way forward],” he added about the reasons for the trips. “We want to fight for victories and titles as soon as possible.”
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