Former team boss Otmar Szafnauer shares insights on the operational levels of Alpine and Aston Martin, revealing some surprising challenges.
- Szafnauer believes Aston Martin has the infrastructure to be a top team, but performance doesn’t reflect that.
- He questions if internal issues may affect Aston Martin’s progress towards being a leading team.
- Moving to Alpine, Szafnauer discusses missed opportunities and top talents leaving the team.
- He reflects on the strategic decisions that led to his departure and the impact on Alpine’s performance.
Otmar Szafnauer, former team boss of Alpine and Aston Martin, has a unique perspective on the operational strengths and weaknesses of both teams. During an appearance on a podcast, Szafnauer voiced concerns about Aston Martin’s performance, despite having top-notch infrastructure. “Lawrence [Stroll] has put in place the infrastructure required for it to be a top team,” he said. However, he noted that Aston Martin’s on-track performance was lacking, with the team only ranking as the sixth or seventh fastest at Silverstone.
Szafnauer speculated on potential internal issues that could be hindering Aston Martin’s progress, questioning whether the team is fully collaborating and making the best decisions. He said, “Is it really a great place to work? Are they really collaborating?… Do you have somebody in charge that understands the entire car?” These unknown factors, he believes, could be crucial in understanding why the team isn’t performing as expected.
Shifting focus to Alpine, Szafnauer lamented missed opportunities following his departure. He highlighted the team’s failure to secure top-level talents he had convinced to join. “A lot of them… I talked to, from a reputation standpoint, one of the best simulation engineers in the world… We convinced him to come to Alpine, and I hear he’s not going now,” he said. Szafnauer also mentioned other key figures, including a renowned aerodynamic specialist and a cost cap architect, who ultimately decided against joining or left the team.
The departure of these crucial talents has hit Alpine hard. It’s being described as a major reset that will take time to recover from. “So all those people, apart from one, have now changed their minds. And a lot of the good people that they had there have also left. So it’s a bit of a reset,” Szafnauer remarked.
Reflecting on his time with Alpine, Szafnauer noted that the continuous exit of senior personnel poses a significant issue. Leaders like Pat Fry, Matt Harmon, and Dirk de Beer have moved on, making it difficult to maintain stability and momentum. “In Formula 1, the higher the skill level that you have, the easier it is for you to find another job,” Szafnauer explained. The resulting atmosphere and culture at Alpine have become less appealing, causing top talent to look elsewhere.
Szafnauer’s insights paint a picture of internal struggles and missed opportunities at both Aston Martin and Alpine.
Source: Planetf1
