Otmar Szafnauer wishes the best to the Alpine employees

Otmar Szafnauer has been relieved by Alpine during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. The Franco-English team has been struggling in the first part of the season, currently sitting 6th in the constructors’ standings.

The former team principal wishes the best to his now former employees. « Personally, I’ll be fine and I’m doing well. It’s just that I’m concerned about all the wonderful men and women in Enstone and Viry who work hard and do a great job. I hope their future will be bright », said Otmar Szafnauer to autosport.

Points for his last race

The Romanian who was in charge of Alpine only lasted 18 months. Too short for the 58-year-old man. « I was just starting to get ahead, I was getting to know everyone, figuring out how to motivate them. You know, a high tide lifts all boats, and I was just at the point where I was riding the tide. There were people, not so much me, but people who were crying and saying goodbye. I told them: “Listen, I’m still alive, I’m not dead! It’s going to be okay” », continued the former Aston Martin director.

For his departure from the French team, the team achieved a podium in the sprint race on Saturday thanks to Pierre Gasly, and on Sunday, Esteban Ocon finished in 8th position. A satisfying result after the two double retirements in Great Britain and Hungary.

A good rhythm at Spa

« If there had been a few more laps, we could have caught up to Lando in the end. It was really good. We had a decent pace, as we showed during the sprint race, with Pierre finishing third. It was a very good race, and unfortunately Pierre struggled at the beginning when he got stuck behind Piastri, and he fell back so much. »

« I mean, he was running in 18th place for most of the race. So for him, to come back to 11th and almost score points was also a good point. There were two races where it was like, “Oh, [McLaren] are going to win the world championship now,” and here at Spa we were fighting with them. »