Alpine F1 Scraps Key Personnel Including Team Principal Ahead of Summer Break
No announcements have been made about their long-term replacements.
Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer, Sporting Director Alan Permane, and Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry will be concluding their employment with the Alpine Formula 1 Team this weekend. The French squad confirmed it will be parting ways with the three staffers at the conclusion of Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.
Reports claiming that the team's upper management had been sacked ahead of F1's summer break surfaced Thursday night, with the news becoming official Friday morning. Besides the usual "we wish them luck in future endeavors," the team did not elaborate on the departure of the three executives, only claiming that the decisions were made by "mutual agreement."
Szafnauer joined Alpine from Aston Martin and led the team for the last 18 months, in which he managed to secure fourth place in the Constructors' Championship in 2022. Permane, however, had spent the last 34 years of his career at the Enstone-based team, working various roles through the many ownerships and iterations of the squad.
Fry, a key figure in F1 across many teams for decades, joined Renault in 2020 for a second time in his career, then stuck around through the transformation into Alpine. Following the announcement of his departure from Alpine, however, Fry was confirmed to be joining Williams F1 as its new chief technical officer; the same role he held at Alpine.
This big management shakeup comes in the footsteps of yet another recent executive shakeup at Alpine HQ. Former Alpine boss Laurent Rossi was replaced as brand chief executive by Philippe Krief following turmoil in the brand's management and performance.
Alpine confirmed these three positions will be filled by interim staffers in the meantime, though it's likely the team will make a more formal announcement during the summer break. Who Alpine will be poaching remains to be seen.
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