2023 Alpine F1 Team

[the EDGE]

A rumour says Renault is evaluating the options to rename the team back to Renault.

I doubt it, When asked about decisions to sack Otmar & Alan, all Famin could talk about was Alpine road cars launching some new models

His reason was basically we want to win sooner than Otmar/Alan say we can, so we sacked them and told the team to win quicker

When asked who the new boss will be, he basically said, I don’t know, I’ve only been there 2 weeks, I have to review everything

Oh dear, they have no idea what they are doing, good luck getting Binotto, if he walked out on Ferrari, he’s not going to take this role

I know people seem to respect Famin, but he appears to not have a clue what his doing

I mean if you don't know that Binotto got his walking papers from Ferrari....

I’m not so sure he did, it was at least more mutual than this is alleged to be

[KimiRai]

as well as losing your title sponsor and whatever else happens in the coming days.

It's not confirmed yet sorry, had to update.

[continuum16]

as well as losing your title sponsor and whatever else happens in the coming days.

It's not confirmed yet sorry, had to update.

Fair enough; BWT seems to follow Szafnauer wherever he goes so I won't be surprised but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being.

[KimiRai]

Prost interview in french about these recent events:

https://secteurf1.fr/prost-attriste-alp ... nce-rossi/

Alain Prost spoke about the failure of the Alpine project after the major cleaning announced this Friday. The quadruple world champion took the opportunity to knock out Laurent Rossi and his "incompetence".

After a completely failed start to the season, Alpine has decided to do a major cleanup by parting ways with several important elements, including its main team, Otmar Szafnauer.

This is how Alain Prost was led to deliver his analysis of the current situation at Alpine, he who was part of the management of the team until the beginning of 2022.

"I love this team and seeing it in this state today saddens and saddens me" said Alain Prost in his column for the newspaper L'Équipe. “She deserves better and has all the assets to get there. I just believe that you have to rely on history to understand the error.”

“If you look at the great successes of the last 30 years, you will find a simple structure, detached from an industrial organization chart, built around three or four strong personalities coupled with a champion driver.”

Rossi takes it for his rank
After citing the examples of management to follow such as the great years of Ferrari, Mercedes or Red Bull, Alain Prost then returned to the case of the Alpine team. The quadruple world champion thus tackled the management of Laurent Rossi, whom he rubbed shoulders with in 2021.

“During my years at Renault, how many times have I heard in the corridors of the headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt, that F1 was a simple sport that could be run from home by men in place.”

“Big mistake as proven by the last of the leaders Laurent Rossi, from whom Luca de Meo separated a week ago.”

“Laurent Rossi is the finest example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, that of an incapable leader who thinks he can overcome his incompetence by his arrogance and his lack of humanity towards his troops.“

“The one who was the boss of Alpine for 18 months thought he had understood everything from the start when he was totally misguided. His management broke the momentum that had been in place since 2016 to achieve these podiums and this victory.”

“It is to be hoped that the decision taken on Friday to change other faces will be a salutary electroshock for the team.”

“If you look at when Renault was successful, you will find a man, Flavio Briatore and a legendary driver, Fernando Alonso, supported by a management which at the time applied this philosophy of rapid decision-making by specialists.”

“Amusing to see that the leaders of F1 are often invited to conferences on management for large groups in order to talk about responsiveness and flexibility. Rarely the opposite… ”, concluded Alain Prost.

[gshevlin]

Alain Prost seemingly confirming my suspicion that the leadership at Alpine has no clue how to get out of the way of the F1 team and let them get on with the business of rapid competition and improvement.

[KimiRai]

Viryfan from Autosport forums (usually a good source) says the following:

"Few things, from what i have in terms of informations Otmar firing is not results related but i've been told that his firing was deserved for that very reason."

"Also regarding Permane he was blocking all changes within the team in order to try making it better. He had sort of old guard of oldies from Enstone from which you could compare to a mafia with his mates in crime like Ciaron Pilbeam."

[NL_Fer]

Maybe they rename the team to Andretti

[Zynerji]

Maybe they rename the team to Andretti

Renault may just sell now. It seems like the right time. Take the 2023 design and dumb it down a bit for Formula Renault

[gshevlin]

"...Otmar firing is not results related but i've been told that his firing was deserved for that very reason."

Well, there's a completely confusing and contradictory sentence.

[KimiRai]

"...Otmar firing is not results related but i've been told that his firing was deserved for that very reason."

Well, there's a completely confusing and contradictory sentence.

Possibly, yes.

[AR3-GP]

"...Otmar firing is not results related but i've been told that his firing was deserved for that very reason."

Well, there's a completely confusing and contradictory sentence.

The public explanation ( ) is that the future plans of Otmar were insufficient and mismatched with the future objectives of Alpine. This is technically not a condemnation of past results.

With that said, people internally may also feel that past results are his to blame, and for that alone he could be sacked. I for one can imagine that quite a few Renault people are displeased with the departure of the last Renault world champion and Otmar's role (or indifference) to that...

[gshevlin]

Everything I have read about the Oscar Piastri fiasco suggests that the negotiations with Piastri (such as they were) were being handled by Rossi himself and one or two legal eagles in Alpine, and Otmar was not involved. Essentially, Alpine were trying to have their cake and eat it by getting Fernando Alonso to renew his contract, while proposing to farm Piastri out to Williams. Piastri didn't want to do that, and Alonso was offered a 1 year deal which insulted him, so he left. A senior Alpine legal employee left at the end of the season, which many people saw as the real blame being allocated. By that time, Piastri was long gone.

[peewon]

Everything I have read about the Oscar Piastri fiasco suggests that the negotiations with Piastri (such as they were) were being handled by Rossi himself and one or two legal eagles in Alpine, and Otmar was not involved. Essentially, Alpine were trying to have their cake and eat it by getting Fernando Alonso to renew his contract, while proposing to farm Piastri out to Williams. Piastri didn't want to do that, and Alonso was offered a 1 year deal which insulted him, so he left. A senior Alpine legal employee left at the end of the season, which many people saw as the real blame being allocated. By that time, Piastri was long gone.

Yup, Rossi wanted too see if Piastri was capable of replacing Alonso without taking the risk of looking like a fool. Which is somewhat cut throat but typical of F1 politics. The biggest mistake was assuming they were no desirable options for either Alonso or Piastri better than Alpine. Really amateur stuff. And while Otmar was not involved in the botched Pisatri contract, his PR campaign against Piastri was really underhanded and he deserves everything he got just for that. He was also the one trying to strongarm Fernando in negotiations, talking about his age related concerns and how he needs to prove it for a renewal knowing full well they had no intentions of renewing after one year had Piastri seemed competent at Williams.

None of this is a surprise. I had read some unflattering info about Rossi from Paddock insiders very early in his tenure and somewhat confirmed by Prost post his departure. Always found Otmar to be a bit weasely. I think Binotto was a good leader for the technical side. Maybe should hire someone else for overall team management.



The fact that this is still a thing after almost three quarters of a decade is the real issue. Alpine just havent been getting their basics right and its hard to understand how that can be the case with a team with enough resources over such a period of time.

[KimiRai]

The fact that this is still a thing after almost three quarters of a decade is the real issue. Alpine just havent been getting their basics right and its hard to understand how that can be the case with a team with enough resources over such a period of time.

It's debatable whether Renault/Alpine really had enough resources to achieve their goals, without this being an excuse for mistakes that were made. Recently it was shown their simulator is very outdated and I wonder why aren't they lobbying for an increase in the CapEx limit like Williams.

[AR3-GP]

The fact that this is still a thing after almost three quarters of a decade is the real issue. Alpine just havent been getting their basics right and its hard to understand how that can be the case with a team with enough resources over such a period of time.

It's debatable whether Renault/Alpine really had enough resources to achieve their goals, without this being an excuse for mistakes that were made. Recently it was shown their simulator is very outdated and I wonder why aren't they lobbying for an increase in the CapEx limit like Williams.

Because Otmar...