Newly appointed Alpine Interim Team Principal Bruno Famin says Otmar Szafnauer was “not on the same timeline” regarding the squad’s journey to the front of the Formula 1 grid.
On Friday, Alpine announced that team boss Szafnauer will depart the team after the Belgian Grand Prix, as will Sporting Director Alan Permane.
It is the latest reshuffle at Alpine after Laurent Rossi was replaced as CEO by Philippe Krief earlier this month.
Famin offered his gratitude to Szafnauer and Permane’s work at Alpine, but asserted that it was a there were disagreements between the parties which led to further changes.
“They’re great people, and we thank them for all we brought to the team,” Famin said.
“For a very long time Alan, 34 years in Enstone, more recently with Otmar, he achieved fourth place in the championship last year which is a good achievement.
“But we were not on the same line on the timeline to recover the level or to reach the level of performance we are aiming for, mutually we agreed to split our ways, and that’s it.”
Alpine currently sits sixth in the Constructors’ Championship and has endured some difficult races, including at the most recent rounds in Silverstone and Budapest, where both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon have failed to see the chequered flag.
Rivals McLaren has also taken a notable step forward in the last handful of races, securing two podiums in as many grands prix.
Having entered the season looking to move towards the top three after finishing fourth in 2022, Famin asserted that Alpine won’t lose focus on its goal amid the management changes.
“[The] season so far, the result do not match our expectation, clearly,” he said.
“We were fourth last year, we know the top three is very strong but we were aiming to keep that fourth place and maybe find a little bit more for the third.
“But we are not where we wanted and we will work hard with all the team, with Enstone and Viry, in order to extract the best possible performance of our car.”
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