Ex-Alpine boss reveals shocking way of getting fired from the French F1 team
Former Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer revealed that the peculiar way he was fired from the French team during the 2023 Belgian GP.
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Otmar Szafnauer (via IMAGO)
Otmar Szafnauer made a name for himself in the F1 paddock during his time at Force India (now Aston Martin). The 60-year-old left the Silverstone-squad to join Alpine in 2022. However, things did not work out for the Romanian-American. Now, Szafnauer has confessed the peculiar way he was fired from the team he was supposed to be leading.
The former Force India boss was sacked during the 2023 Belgian GP weekend, just eighteen months since he joined the Enstone-based squad. Otmar Szafnauer revealed that he was informed of this decision by the Renault HR department on a zoom meeting, instead of an in-person conversation.
[It was delivered] just in a Zoom call from the head of Renault HR. The Renault Group HR.
Otmar Szafnauer said on High Performance Podcast
Moreover, the 60-year-old asserted that he was signaled to change the corporate structure within Alpine. However, Otmar Szafnauer insisted that the way he was being told to change the work structure was not the right way to make the French team improve in Formula 1. Szafnauer recently revealed that he was not behind Alpine’s infamous Oscar Piastri saga.
There were suggestions that I needed to change the corporate culture in a way that I didn’t think was the right way to do it.
Otmar Szafnauer noted
Otmar Szafnauer claims Alpine wanted to fire people who did a ‘good job’
Szafnauer recalled that the top leadership of Renault wanted him to sack people who were actually doing a good job at the team. The Romanian-American pointed out that such a culture would instill fear amongst the employees that they would be fired if they did a good job for Alpine.
They wanted a corporate culture change in a different manner to get rid of some people that were doing a good job that have been there for a long time. And my thought was, well, if you get rid of people that do a good job, then the message you send is: do a good job, get fired.
Otmar Szafnauer explained
Certainly, Otmar Szafnauer’s conversations surrounding Alpine give an idea about the controversial functioning within the Enstone-based squad. This could be a potential reason behind the French team’s downfall in 2024. However, it remains to be seen how things pan out within Alpine in the next few months.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2383 Articles Published)