F1: Alpine sacks Otmar Szafnauer

Alpine has announced that Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has been sacked effective after the Belgian Grand Prix.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

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Szafnauer was appointed in February last year to replace Marcin Budkowski as part of a managerial reshuffle, but the writing was on the wall for the American due to the poor performance of the team in 2023.

Not Laughing now! Otmar Szafnauer Team Principal Alpine during the Hungarian GP, Budapest 20-23 July 2023 at the Hungaroring, Formula 1 World championship 2023.

Szafnauer’s departure follows the exit of Laurent Rossi as Alpine CEO last week, with the Frenchman being moved onto “special projects” within the company.

Both Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane have been relieved of their roles, effective after the current weekend, before Alpine confirmed the news ahead of Belgian GP qualifying.

VP of Alpine Motorsports, Bruno Famin, is present at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend and will take over until a replacement for Szafnauer can be found.

Since Szafnauer is American, will Michael Andretti ask him to join his yet to be confirmed American F1 team?

In a statement, Alpine said they “would like to thank Otmar for his hard work over the past 18 months and for leading the team in achieving fourth place in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship” and “wishes him the best for the future”.

At the same time as Szafnauer’s exit, Alpine have confirmed that they will part ways with Sporting Director Alan Permane, again by “mutual agreement”.

Permane will continue his role this weekend in Belgium before departing ahead of the summer break, with the team adding that “after 34 distinguished years at Enstone, the team extends its thanks to Alan and wishes him the best in his future endeavors”.

Finally, Alpine have announced that Pat Fry will leave the team to continue his career in F1 elsewhere – with Williams confirming subsequently that he would join them as their Chief Technical Officer.

Bruno Famin, Vice President of Alpine Motorsports, will assume the role of Interim Team Principal of the Alpine F1 Team from the Dutch Grand Prix onwards.

Current Alpine Academy Director Julian Rouse has been named Interim Sporting Director, with Matt Harman leading the technical team at Enstone. Both Rouse and Harman will report to Famin.