Just a week after Laurent Rossi, CEO of Alpine F1, hinted at a management change for the next season to put the French automaker on the grid, there are increasing suggestions that Szafnauer was poached from Aston Martin as part of that plan.
According to his knowledge of the situation, Szafnauer has basically agreed to the change, but there has not yet been any formal confirmation.
It is unclear when an official announcement will be made. It could possibly be already at the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend, or it could wait for winter to fall in line with a schedule set by Rossi.
Both Aston Martin and Alpine have declined to comment on the matter.
An Aston Martin spokesman said: “This is a speculative assumption. We cannot comment on it.”
An Alpine spokesman added: “These are rumors that we will not comment on.”
While there is still no news about the position Szafnauer might take, it is possible that his arrival at Alpine will result in major structural change.
There has been evidence for some time that Alpine Race Director Davide Brivio will be returning to MotoGP for 2022 after deciding he would prefer a return to two-wheeling.
Davide Brivio, Race Director, Alpine F1 and Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
If Brivio does drop out, it means that Szafnauer could take on more of a leading team role, with Alpine managing director Marcin Budkowski taking on more responsibility on the racing and technical side.
Rossi recently suggested that Alpine must turn things around for 2022 after feeling like its progress towards the top of the grid had stalled.
“I think the team has moved pretty well from P9 to P5 in the last few years before the plateau we have reached,” Rossi told Motorsport.com.
“But now, in order to get to the next level and become the best of the top teams, and not just the best of the rest, further development is required.
“So I want to keep the momentum from the previous season, so I want to keep this fifth place. I don’t want us to fall behind.”
“We learned a lot operationally this year, which is always a plus. We’ll do that next year, but then we’ll have to build muscle to grow and move from P5 to P1, race after race, season after season for the next few years. “
Should Szafnauer’s departure be confirmed, it is currently unclear who will replace him as team boss at Aston Martin.
The Silverstone squad recently hired former McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh for an executive position at Aston Martin Performance Technologies, but he was present at the Grands Prix and would be an obvious candidate.
Recently, Szafnauer said he didn’t expect Whitmarsh to be much involved with the F1 team – but hadn’t made a final call yet.
“I could imagine that at the beginning he will spend most of the time building up the Aston Martin Performance Technologies division, which is where he has his latest knowledge, and not focusing so much on Formula One,” he said.
“But what is not planned is how much of his time will be spent where.”
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