The revelations by Szafnauer, fired from Alpine via a Zoom call

Upon arriving at the helm of the Alpine F1 Team at the dawn of the 2022 season, Otmar Szafnauer had a mixed experience on the Enstone side. While he can be satisfied with the fourth place in the constructors’ standings in 2022 or Esteban Ocon’s podium in Monaco in 2023, he regrets certain episodes that have marked his tenure.

« There are several things that went wrong with Alpine, one of them is that I didn’t have control over all the teams, explains the leader in the podcast High Performance. « I knew this was going to be problematic. » Szafnauer mentions human resources, finance office, communication office, and marketing branch as departments that did not give him regular reports.

The disastrous management of the Piastri case

Otmar Szafnauer rejects any responsibility concerning the mishap surrounding the signing of Oscar Piastri, who ultimately joined McLaren after the French team publicly announced his appointment for the 2023 season. He states that the error occurred in November 2021, while he took up his position in March 2022.

He claims that the people in charge of the Australian’s contract signature did not submit the documents correctly and therefore never signed a contract with him. While his image was used in the press release announcing his appointment, Szafnauer regrets this as he was not involved in this contract and was not informed by the communication team of the use of his image.

Handicapping personal interests

The leader pointed out that some employees were more concerned about developing their personal careers within the Renault Group than the performance of the Alpine team. This had negative repercussions on the team’s development, which was hoping to reach the top 3 constructors according to the former team director.

Also, the one who has gone through Honda Racing, Force India, or Aston Martin criticizes the development that the management team of the group wanted to give to its team. « I was suggested that I should change the company culture in a way that I did not think was right. I know how to change the company culture into a culture that has a winning mentality and psychological safety, which is what I was in the process of doing », he laments.

A dismissal through a Zoom call

Sacked in July 2023, Otmar Szafnauer therefore stayed a little over a year in his position. While he was not surprised by the official announcement made by his team, the 60-year-old leader appeared disappointed by the way it was done:

Szafnauer was informed of his dismissal a week before its announcement, which came at the same time as that of his then sports director, Alan Permane. However, he learned about it in a surprising way, neither from the CEO of Renault or Alpine, nor during a crisis meeting. It was done just through a phone call from the Group Renault’s HR manager, a call via Zoom, he testifies.

The current situation of Alpine is a disaster

Despite the various challenges he faced, Otmar Szafnauer remained at the head of Alpine, considering that the team’s situation was not disastrous. His team managed to regularly score points in races and even secure a few podium finishes. The Romanian-American also took the opportunity to point out the current situation of the Enstone team in the championship: “It’s not like this season, where they are ninth in the championship, I believe. Today, it’s a disaster.”

The team’s demotion is not solely due to his departure, but as a consequence of several decisions made by the group’s leaders. “It’s not because I left. It’s because many people have left. Those who have left have done good work. Most of them are now in other teams.”