Team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane have been sacked by Alpine, while chief technical officer Pat Fry is joining Formula 1 rivals, Williams.
There is a radical shake-up occurring at the French team, following the recent news that CEO Laurent Rossi has been replaced in his role. Szafnauer’s and Permane’s exits have been confirmed from the Endstone-based team, who sit sixth in the Constructors’ Championship after 11 rounds of the 2023 season. The duo will remain in charge for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, with the announcement coming just minutes after practice had ended at Spa on Friday.
Who will take over?
Vice president of Alpine Motorsports, Bruno Famin, is taking over as interim team principal while academy director Julien Rouse has been named interim sporting director. Technical director Matt Harman will take control of the “technical team.” Fry will begin his new role at Williams in November, and appears to be the only member of the trio to have chosen to leave. The 59-year-old is replacing Francois-Xavier Demaison, who was removed from his role in the British team as part of their own shake-up, which saw James Vowles replace Jost Capito as team principal.
Welcoming Pat Fry as our new Chief Technical Officer! 🤝
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) July 28, 2023
Alpine’s announcement
The formerly named Renault F1 team said in a statement on their website:
“Otmar will 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.
“The team can also confirm it will part ways with Sporting Director Alan Permane by mutual agreement. Alan will also continue his role this weekend in Belgium before departing ahead of the summer break. After 34 distinguished years at Enstone, the team extends its thanks to Alan and wishes him the best in his future endeavours.”
Szafnauer joins Rossi in losing role
Following a disappointing start to this year’s campaign, Rossi admitted that there “will be consequences” and that “the buck” stops with Szafnauer. However, it was the Frenchman who was the first of the senior leadership to lose his job. Szafnauer said that the appointment of Famin “shouldn’t have an impact whatsoever” on his management of the team, when speaking at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The former Aston Martin team principal now has to pay the price, as Alpine find themselves 120 points adrift of fourth-place Ferrari, the position in which they finished in 2022. That season was largely overshadowed by Fernando Alonso’s decision to join Aston Martin, with Mclaren pinching Alpine’s reserve driver, Oscar Piastri. Alpine will now hope for a similar resurgence to that of Mclaren, who are rapidly rising up the standings following impressive results in recent races.
