Szafnauer: “It was better for everyone that I leave Aston Martin”
The new team manager of Alpine, Otmar Szafnauer, spoke about his departure from Aston Martin and his first days in the tricolor team.
Team Principal of Force India/Racing Point/Aston Martin since 2009, Otmar Szafnauer left the team at the beginning of the season to join Alpine. The Romanian-American shared his insights on his departure.
While he had declared at Interlagos last November that he had no intention of leaving, Szafnauer was fired in January by Lawrence Stroll’s team. At that time, I had no intention of leaving, but time has passed and things have changed at Aston. I thought it was better for everyone that I go elsewhere, said the new team manager of Alpine.
Taking advantage of the restructuring of the French team and notably the departure of Marcin Budkowski, Otmar Szafnauer arrived at the fifth team in the last constructors’ standings. I’m already enjoying it a lot. It’s my sixth day, I’ve already spent a few days at the factory to get a feel for things and meet as many people as possible in my first few days.
« I was pleasantly surprised to see many familiar faces from Honda, British American Racing, or even Force India. I know what these people are like. There is great potential, individuals with the same ideas, pulling in the same direction and wanting to do well. They have a great history here. They have already won, they have good infrastructure, so I am really looking forward to working with all of them.
» Szafnauer concluded, who will have a tough job to bring Alpine closer to the top.
