Otmar Szafnauer. picture alliance

Alpine drops team principal in big Formula One shakeup

By Alyssa Clang | Last updated Jul 28, 2023 5:25 PM ET

It's been a rough season for Alpine, and not just on the track — though its recent back-to-back double DNFs at Silverstone and the Hungaroring were laughably dire.

The French Formula 1 team has struggled with backroom drama this season, much of it driven by senior leaders who should know better than to fan the flames.

But with serious investment coming from the likes of Wrexham's Ryan Reynolds and AC Milan's RedBird capital, things are starting to change for the better at Alpine HQ.

Hapless CEO Laurent Rossi was quietly "moved to a new position" last week, making way for engineering and product leader Philippe Krief.

And Friday, mere hours before the start of the Belgian Grand Prix race weekend, Alpine announced that team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane would be leaving the firm, too.

BREAKING: Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane to depart Alpine following the Belgian Grand Prix#F1 pic.twitter.com/idRxwoAK93
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 28, 2023

Szafnauer is a familiar figure to F1 fans. He's been a leader on the grid since joining Force India in 2009, and held a team principal role at Aston Martin before signing on with Alpine. While his career has had some undoubtedly high highs — getting scrappy Force India into the top four in 2016 — it's also had some rather shocking lows. Last season's so-called "Piasco," where young star Oscar Piastri turned his back on Alpine to take a job at McLaren, happened under Szafnauer's watch.

While Alpine have not yet announced a successor for Szafnauer, there's a likely candidate in the mix: former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. Fans of Drive to Survive will remember Binotto as the soft spoken, wild-haired, bespectacled leader who couldn't quite pull Ferrari together for a true title challenge in 2022.

I want this buddy movie with Mattia Binotto and Günther Steiner ❤ #DriveToSurvive5 #DriveToSurvive #F1 #DtS #F1Testing #Pitch #Netflix pic.twitter.com/7peBUDfPHr
— Silje (@formulacyan) February 24, 2023

While Binotto receives his fair share of criticism as a manager, he's one of the most accomplished technical minds in F1's recent history. If hired, his influence should help Alpine compete for a top-four finish once again.

But first? Alpine needs to focus on finishing a race.

Alyssa Clang

Alyssa is a Boston-born Californian with a passion for global sport. She can yell about misplaced soccer passes in five languages and rattle off the turns of Silverstone in her sleep. You can find her dormant Twitter account at @alyssaclang, but honestly, you’re probably better off finding her here

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