Ex-Alpine boss reveals Renault decision with ‘$15 million’ funding side effect

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Former team principal Otmar Szafnauer claimed that strategy and aero chiefs have now joined the Alpine exodus list, while stating he was previously “overridden” by Renault on a move that could have unlocked up to $15million in funds.

Alpine has undergone sweeping changes over the last year, which Szafnauer knows all about having been shown the door during the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix weekend, a year-and-a-half after taking on the team principal role.

Otmar Szafnauer claims ‘overridden’ by Renault on ‘cost cap architect’

A fresh round a major changes were announced at this year’s Belgian GP with Szafnauer’s replacement Bruno Famin stepping down and Oliver Oakes hired in his place, while a proposal has been submitted to shift Renault’s Viry engine base onto other projects and transition Alpine from works to customer team status from F1 2026, when the new power units come into effect.

Appearing on the James Allen on F1 podcast, Szafnauer said he has heard Alpine’s composite design and strategy chiefs have recently resigned, while expressing regret over not getting the chance to see through the project he was putting in place, which included several strong recruits.

He claimed all but one has now opted against joining Alpine, adding that he reached a deal to sign a “cost cap architect” from a rival team who had the potential to unlock between $5-$15m in funds, but parent company Renault put a stop to that.

“Alpine looks like [it’s having] another reset,” said Szafnauer.

“And it’s unfortunate that I didn’t get the opportunity to continue on the road that I was going down. What I was doing there is convincing really good engineers and talent – not at the highest level, but at the mid level where the performance actually comes from – to come join the team, because of the project that we were working on.

“I talked to, from a reputation standpoint, one of the best simulation engineers in the world. He was working at Apple when Apple thought they were going to build a car, he’s moving back to the UK and we convinced him to come to Alpine. I hear he’s not going now.

“One of the best aerodynamic structures guys in the world, I didn’t work with him, but that was his reputation, working at Red Bull. I convinced him to come.

“A cost cap architect, which, if you’re good at that, you can unlock between five, 10, 15 million of extra spend. And that extra spend at the margin is pure performance. That’s where you’re spending it on.

“He was at one of the competitive teams and after lunches, dinners, coffee mornings with him, I got him to decide to join the team. But then I was overridden by the CFO of Renault Group when they got involved.

“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.

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“And those resets take time to even get back to where you were before. Pat Fry [chief technical officer] was one of the first to leave and then Matt Harman [technical director] and Dirk de Beer [head of aerodynamics] – there’s so many of them.

“And I just heard two days ago that the head of composite design has resigned, the chief strategist has resigned. So very senior people are leaving. And you’ve got to ask yourself: why?

“It’s generally the team atmosphere, the culture, whatever it is, they don’t like. And in Formula 1, the higher the skill level that you have, the easier it is for you to find another job. I always say the best guys leave first.

“So you’ve got to make sure that the team that they’re working for and the team that you’re leading is the best place for them, so they don’t want to leave.”

Alpine sit P8 in the current F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship standings with 11 points scored.

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