The Alpine F1 Team is going through big changes as it approaches the 2023 Formula 1 season. The team parted ways with sporting director Alan Permane, who has been with the team for 34 years, and team principal Otmar Szafnauer, who joined the team from Aston Martin at the beginning of 2022.
These breakups are reportedly due to disagreements within the team over the time required for success. While Alpine management wanted immediate success, Permane and Szafnauer said it needed at least a few more years.
Bruno Famin, who is temporarily the team principal of Alpine F1, has argued in a recent interview that Szafnauer is not an incompetent or unsuccessful name. But Famin said there were disagreements between them about the path to success.
“No one says Otmar Szafnauer is good enough. On the contrary, both he and Alan are very experienced professionals.”
“They were really valuable names for the team, we are well aware of that, but when the level of competition is this high and you have to overcome such serious challenges, you have to bond within the team.”
“Everyone has to work in harmony for this, and that was no longer the case.”
“We have never lost our trust in them. zamwe did not lose a moment. But when developing such projects, all top management should follow the same direction. We acted together, but at some point we realized that we could no longer agree on some issues.”
“If there is no complete agreement, it zamWe are experienced enough to realize that it is useless to continue working together at the moment. So we all had to choose our own path.”
“Ultimately, we chose a different path due to the lack of unity regarding the direction we were following.”
“Personally, I have no zamI didn't say I lost my trust in Otmar at the moment. I know his talents and background, I know Alan too. Both are excellent names.”
“But we saw that it was not so when we should have been united. The results achieved by the team were not as we expected. Maybe our competitors did, while we couldn't take the necessary steps.”
“Of course we continue to work, but we need to change a lot of things, especially the general psychological situation.”
“This is one of the tasks we will tackle at the point we analyze the situation within the team.”
