Szafnauer Appointed As Alpine Team Principal

Calum Gill 16:24 17/02/2022

Former Aston Martin Formula 1 team principal Otmar Szafnauer has joined Alpine in the same role, while the team’s Viry-based engine manufacturer counterpart will be overseen by former Peugeot motorsport boss Bruno Famin. 

Szafnauer’s departure from Aston Martin was announced last month after widespread speculation about the possibility of him leaving to join Alpine - with Aston Martin soon confirming BMW motorsport boss Mike Krack as his replacement. An Alpine move for Szafnauer was rumoured last season, with the Romanian-born American unconvincingly denying it as “media speculation”. But when executive director Marcin Budkowski’s departure from the team was announced, it was widely expected that Szafnauer would make the move to replace him.

A reshuffled technical line-up for the team was announced in early February, with Matt Harman becoming technical director and Pat Fry taking the role of chief technical officer, and with Szafnauer’s appointment the widespread reorganisation of the team - initiated by Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi - has taken another step. Alpine will unveil its 2021 car on Monday, February 12. It has a new title sponsor in BWT, which previously served as the title sponsor of Szafnauer’s last team in its previous guise as Racing Point.

A change of role has also been announced for Davide Brivio, who will now become Alpine’s Director of Racing Expansion Project. Brivio arrived as a marquee signing from Suzuki’s title-winning MotoGP operation last year, but reportedly struggled to make an immediate impact on Alpine, and has been repeatedly linked with a return to the familiar confines of the MotoGP paddock. But while his former Suzuki team is currently on the hunt for a new team principal and Brivio seemed an obvious match, he will instead continue in the four-wheeled world of motorsport.

His new role will put him in charge of “fostering team spirit in all racing categories” and also “identifying, developing and bringing to life projects around new opportunities for Alpine within the world of motorsport”. “Over the past year I have seen Davide’s talent to identify the best in people, and to make them perform as well as they can,” Rossi said. “I am delighted to utilize this unique skill across all existing Alpine assets and new ones we are just starting to explore.”