Changes at Alpine…

Alpine have made some changes as team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane leave the team, whilst chief technical officer Pat Fry has left to join Formula 1 rivals, Williams.

The exits are confirmed with the French team who currently sit sixth in the constructors’ championship after 11 rounds of the 2023 season, following successive double DNFs for both drivers at the British and Hungarian Grand Prix.

Alpine Motorsports vice president, Bruno Famin will take over from Szafnauer as interim team principal, while Alpine academy director, Julian Rouse is named interim sporting director and technical director Matt Harman takes leadership of the “technical team”.

Fry, the only member of the trio who appears to have chosen to exit, will be able to work at Williams in November after taking up the same role with the British team.
He replaces, Francois-Xavier Demaison, who left Williams in December amid a shake-up that also saw James Vowles replaces Jost Capito as team principal.

The Alpine exits come little more than a week after Laurent Rossi was replaced as brand chief executive by Philippe Krieft, amid apparent infighting at the Enstone-based team.

Szafnauer, has paid the price for Alpine’s disappointing first half of the 2023 season, which sees them sit 134 points adrift of Ferrari, who currently hold the fourth position in which the French team finished last year.

BWT Alpine F1 Team announces today it will part ways with Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer by mutual agreement following the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. Otmar will continue his duties as normal for last weekend’s race in Belgium, before leaving the team ahead of the summer break. The team 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. The team wishes him the best for the future. The team can also confirm it will part ways with Sporting Director Alan Permane by mutual agreement. Alan will also continue his role last weekend in Belgium before departing ahead of the summer break. After 34 distinguished years at Enstone, the team extends its thanks to Alan and wishes him the best in his future endeavours. The team also announces that Pat Fry will leave the team to continue his career in Formula 1 elsewhere.

A Team Statement.