Inside the Alpine F1 Turmoil: Otmar Szafnauer Points Fingers at Management Over Oscar Piastri’s Departure

Former Alpine F1 team leader criticizes "unreliable" leadership for losing Oscar Piastri.

Otmar Szafnauer shares thoughts on Oscar Piastri's move to McLaren.

Former Alpine F1 team leader, Otmar Szafnauer, holds the top executives responsible for Oscar Piastri's departure to McLaren.

In mid-2022, Alpine revealed that Piastri would be joining their team as a driver.

Not long after the team made the announcement, Piastri took to X to firmly state that he would not be racing for Alpine in 2023.

A month after the Contract Recognition Board examined the situation, McLaren received approval to reveal Piastri.

As a result, Alpine found themselves without both Piastri and Fernando Alonso within just a few weeks.

During an appearance on the High Performance podcast, Szafnauer, who held the position of Alpine F1 team principal at that time, provided insight into the matter.

"He explained that after Oscar Piastri completed his F2 career, there was an agreement where Alpine had the choice to make him a Formula 1 driver for their team, but they never acted on it."

"In November, there was a period of two weeks available to complete it, but it was not accomplished."

"The main point I'm making is that when the CRB decision came out, where Alpine lost due to errors in their paperwork, a press statement was released, featuring my photo. First of all, this had nothing to do with me, as I wasn't even present."

"Secondly, the communications team, which wasn't under my supervision, decided it would be wise to shift the blame for Alpine's shortcomings by including my photo in the announcement."

Szafnauer firmly believes that the entire debacle highlighted the "unreliable" nature of Alpine's senior leadership and suggested that certain individuals within the company were "targeting him."

He remarked that it became evident back then that certain individuals within the Alpine organization couldn't be trusted and were actively working against him, rather than collaborating with him.

Even though the contract wasn't signed promptly, the terms outlined in the agreement were provided to Oscar. This was a significant deal, involving 5,000 kilometers in a car that was two years old and had been quite costly. We fulfilled that commitment.

"We completed all the tasks outlined in that unsigned agreement. Under English law, if we had brought the case to an English court, it's possible we might have prevailed."

"That's a case of unfair gain. Even though you didn't sign the agreement, you've taken everything and aren't providing what you agreed to supply."

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