"It's a bit surprising they got rid of Otmar": Alpine management's approach in F1 confuses F1 journalist

F1 pundit Peter Windsor recently spoke about how Alpine's removing Otmar Szafnauer from the team principal's role was rather surprising and confusing for him. This news was broken during the 2023 F1 Belgian GP weekend, where it was announced that Szafnauer and Alan Permane would leave the French team after the race.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Windsor expressed how surprised he was to see Alpine get rid of Otmar Szafnauer. He explained how he felt the Romanian team principal was always more integrated with BWT, though that was not the reason he was fired from the French team. He said:

"For me. it's quite surprising that they've got rid of Ottmar because he hasn't been there very long. As I said before, for me, he's always been quite well integrated with BWT and I would have thought that, you know, that would have been a factor, but it's obviously not."

Furthermore, the F1 pundit spoke about how quickly Alpine changed their minds from keeping Otmar Szafnauer to removing him after two weeks. Peter Windsor feels that the environment and management of the French team are somewhat complicated and messy. Lastly, he addressed the rumors of how former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto could join the Enstone-based team.

"You know, the new regime apparently said that he was going to stay on as a team principal and then two weeks later [they] changed their mind. So, it looks pretty...I don't know if 'not serious' is the right way to describe it, but it looks very complicated and messy, doesn't it?"

He added:

"Mattia Binotto...looks like he's going to go there as technical director or whatever, so that'll be an interesting thing."

---

Otmar Szafnauer on his departure from Alpine

Alpine took the F1 community by storm after it announced that team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alex Permane would leave the team during the 2023 F1 Belgian GP.

A few days after the announcement, Szafnauer spoke about how the team wanted to see results a bit too soon and how steering an F1 team to glory takes time. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:

“The reality is that changes take time. I signed some good people from other teams, but they are still stuck in their contracts and won’t come until 2024 or 2025. You can’t really push development if people aren’t there. It takes time for people to come and it takes time for people to work together correctly.”

Since his departure was effective immediately after the Belgian GP, Alpine is currently without a proper team principal. Hence, they will have to recruit someone before the end of the summer break or make do with an interim team principal for the rest of the 2023 F1 season.