Otmar Szafnauer could leave Aston Martin to become Alpine F1 boss

Szafnauer could take on a leading role in the team at the helm of Brivio and compensate for Budkowski or even a possible exit by Brivio.

By Sahil Gupta
| Updated: 31-Dec-21 12:32 PM IST

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Szafnauer has been under pressure since Lawrence Stroll took over the team

Otmar Szafnauer may leave Aston Martin after Martin Whitmarsh is hired as CEO of Aston Martin Technologies. While Szafnauer remains CEO and Team Principal of the Aston Martin F1 Team, the combination of the new pressures from Lawrence Stroll, the owner of the F1 team, and the Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda, along with the team’s poor performance in the year. This situation coincides with the fact that Alpine has troubled itself as Davide Brivio is unhappy to share responsibility for the team with Marcin Budkowski – Laurent Rossi, the CEO of Alpine, is considering an alternative leadership structure for the team.

Szafnauer could play a leading role in the team alongside Brivio and Budkowski or even compensate for Brivio’s possible exit from the team. Szafnauer was under pressure because of Aston Martin’s poor performance in 2021 and now has one more boss on him.

Laurent Rossi was appointed CEO of Alpine after the dismissal of Cyril Abiteboul

“Szafnauer could take over the lead of the Franco-British team as part of the extensive restructuring plan that Laurent Rossi is working on. One of the restructuring projects is the hiring of Otmar Szafnauer, who is reportedly under pressure at Aston Martin,” reports French magazine Auto Hebdo .

Alpine also has to put his house in order if it is to fight for the world title. It now has a fixed driver line-up, but since Cyril Abiteboul left the team, the team no longer has a de facto team boss. Szafnauer could take on this role and support Rossi in this. Many had expected Szafnauer would get the shoe himself in 2019 after Stroll took over the former Force India team, but the good performance in 2020 meant that more was invested in the team with the arrival of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

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However, in the year Aston Martin returned to Formula 1, Aston Martin battled underground for only P7, with the best result being Vettel’s P2 in Baku, just ahead of Alfa Romeo, Williams and Haas.

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