Photo: Mark Thompson (Getty Images)
All in all, 2021 has been an encouraging year for Alpine F1 Team. After a slow start, the fortunes of the Enstone team began to turn around midway through the season as Esteban Ocon clinched his first race win at the Hungaroring. A late-season upswing, with Fernando Alonso third in Qatar and Ocon fourth in Saudi Arabia, helped the side move AlphaTauri and Aston Martin to the top of the constructors’ standings.
So why is Alpine leaving key personnel with devotion?
The team announced that former chief executive Marcin Budkowski left last week. Then, on Monday, Alain Prost’s departure as non-executive advisor was leaked seemingly early, much to the disappointment the four-time world champion. Simultaneously, Motorsport.com reported that Otmar Szafnauer, who had spent more than a decade running the Aston Martin team dating back to the Force India days, was set to replace Budkowski – possibly with former Aston sponsor BWT, according to anonymous sources.
Given the progress Alpine has made in 2021, all the turnover at the top level can’t help but surprise. F1.com reported that Prost “had an annual contract with Alpine and management decided not to renew it for 2022,” but later that same day, Prost told the French newspaper The team another story. Over Motorsport.com:
“The 2021 season was very worrying for me as I felt that those who had been here a long time had to leave,” he explained.
“I accept change because you don’t always have to do F1 the same way. You can do it differently, and that’s how it was done last year. But it got too complicated for me.
“I was no longer involved in decision-making, I disagreed at times – completely – but I still had to convey the official word.
“Even as a board member, I only found out about some decisions at the last minute. I may not be heard, but I should at least be informed in good time. It’s a matter of respect. The relationships became more and more complicated, I could feel a lot of jealousy.”
Despite a reduced role in the team and a sense of isolation, Prost said Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi still asked him to stay for 2022 and the former driver turned down the job:
“It was in Qatar but he still offered me a contract in Abu Dhabi which I turned down. I still have to say that I believed – and still do – in this ambitious project, which increased the motivation in the group incredibly.
“However, there is now a real urge to marginalize a lot of people. Laurent Rossi wants all the limelight. What interests me is the challenge of being in a team, being listened to and being involved in some decisions.
It looks like Rossi is reportedly running the day-to-day operations, allegedly until Szafnauer is installed on the team. To make things even more interesting, last year there was a commotion in the paddock Budkowski has Aston Martin in his sights – meaning that whole shakeup could end up with the two midfield rivals sharing a good old-fashioned boss swap. Considering Alpine’s strong performance under Budkowski and Szafnauer’s history of overachieving with Racing Point, both crews appear to be in good hands.
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