Struggling Alpine continues leadership shakeup
Otmar Szafnauer before qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix at the start of his last weekend in charge of the Alpine team
Spa-Francorchamps – Alpine vice-president Bruno Famin on Friday said that differences of opinion about recent performances and future plans had led to the shock departures of team chief Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane.
The departures were announced before Friday’s qualifying session at the Belgian Grand Prix. They come as the French-owned team based at Enstone in England, undergoes upheaval as it tries to become more competitive.
In a statement, the team said Szafnauer would “continue his duties as normal for this weekend’s race in Belgium, before leaving the team ahead of the summer break.
“The team 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. The team wishes him the best for the future.”
Famin will take over as interim team leader after this weekend’s races.
Famin joined the team earlier this month in the newly-created role of vice-president of Alpine Motorsport. He had been head of Renault operations at Viry-Chatillon south of Paris after previous roles with Peugeot and the International Motoring Federation (FIA).
Permane leaves after 34 years’ service with the team in its many guises from Benetton to Renault and Lotus and more.
He will be replaced as an interim sporting director by Alpine Academy director Julian Rouse.
The changes continue a shake-up initiated by Renault chief Luca de Meo, which included chief executive officer Laurent Rossi moving into special projects.
Famin said: “Otmar and Alan are great people and we thank them for what they brought to the team. It was a very long time, 34 years for Alan at Enstone and with Otmar we secured fourth place in the constructors last year, but we weren’t on the same timeline for how to recover and to reach the level of performance we are aiming for. We agreed to split ways.
“It is a decision of top management and not something that has been decided one day to another. We’ve been talking for a week and I was appointed vice-president two weeks ago and started working before so it is quite a long story.”
Permane has been with the Enstone team since 1989 and his exit took many paddock observers by surprise. It follows the departures in recent years of four-time champion Alain Prost and last year two-time champion Fernando Alonso.
Szafnauer represented Alpine at a meeting of F1 Commission meeting earlier on Friday, shortly before another announcement that the vastly experienced Pat Fry is set to leave Alpine and join Williams as chief technical officer.