Otmar Szafnauer leaves Alpine Formula 1 team

Image of Otmar Szafnauer

Alpine have announced that they will part ways with Otmar Szafnauer following the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix.

Formula 1 say that the team principal will continue his duties as normal this weekend, but will leave the team ahead of the August summer break.

Alpine released a statement aimed the the team principal to show their thanks for his services to the team. The statement said Alpine “would like to thank Otmar for his hard work over the past 18 months and for leading the team in achieving fourth place in the 2022 Constructors' Championship” and “wishes him the best for the future”.

Why did he leave?

Following disagreeing with Laurent Rossi many times in recent history, reports suggest that the team principal was forced out of his job after not agreeing with the success timeline given by the Renault hierarchy.

Alpine reported wanted Alpine F1 to be battling for Championships in the next 3 to 5 years, but Szafnauer thought this was too unrealistic. Disagreeing with the CEO put his job on the line, and now he has been shown the door for not sharing the same, albeit unrealistic, ambitions.