Christian Horner gives his verdict on Alpine’s sacking of Otmar Szafnauer and Alan Permane
Christian Horner expressed his opinion on Otmar Szafnauer and Alan Permane after Alpine shake-up.
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Christian Horner (image via Sports Illustrated), Otmar Szafnauer (image via PlanetF1), Alan Permane (image via CarandDriver.com)
The Alpine F1 team announced a major shake-up during the Belgian GP. The French team sacked Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane. The Renault works team is going through a major overhaul of its leadership structure, with a new Team Principal to be signed soon. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner shared his views on this recent shuffle at Enstone.
Horner made it clear that he and Red Bull were not concerned over the changes at the French team. He told the media at Spa, “It’s very much Alpine business and nothing to do with us.” The 49-year-old showered praise on Otmar Szafnauer, who had previously served as Team Principal of Force India-turned-Aston Martin F1 team.
The Red Bull Team Principal believed that the Romanian-American knew running a team at the pinnacle of motorsport. Christian Horner said, “Otmar has obviously been around for a little while. And he’s always been very straightforward to deal with.”
Although, the 49-year-old believed that Alan Permane was a well-known figure in the F1 paddock. As Permane had stayed with the Enstone-based team for 34 years under its various guises, be it Alpine, Renault, Lotus, and even Benetton. He continued, “I think for Alan, or Bat, as I think he’s better known in the pit lane. Thirty-four years in any job is a truly remarkable achievement.”
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Christian Horner believes Alan Permane would soon find a new role in F1
The Red Bull team boss praised Permane for his decades-long tenure at Enstone and for witnessing the highs and lows of the team. Alan Permane got the opportunity to be part of the championship-winning campaigns of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso under the Benetton and Renault F1 names, respectively. Albeit, things have been tougher for Team Enstone over the past decade.
Christian Horner was adamant that Permane would be on the radar of many teams as teams would love to have such an experienced individual. The 34-year-long tenure at a single team further shows the loyalty of the former Alpine Sporting Director. Horner stated, “I doubt he’s going to be unemployed for too long. But just hats off to what he’s done with that team.”
Thus, Christian Horner believes that both Otmar Szafnauer and Alan Permane are two key figures in the F1 paddock. Both individuals have helped their respective teams in achieving success in the sport. As such, the Red Bull team boss won’t be surprised to see Szafnauer and Permane in new roles at different teams in the future.
In case you missed it:
- David Croft opens up on Red Bull race engineer GP’s ‘no nonsense’ approach to ‘hot headed’ Max Verstappen
- “He should be quiet,” Fernando Alonso calls out Otmar Szafnauer for his poor decision making skills at Alpine
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Armaan Agarwal
(2310 Articles Published)