Otmar Szafnauer criticizes Alpine F1’s management, revealing unrealistic expectations and misguided decisions that led to his departure from the team.
Szafnauer believes that the evolution of Formula 1 sometimes leads to situations where owners lack a true understanding of motorsport. The former Alpine F1 team principal thinks this is the case with Renault Group decision-makers.
“Looking at it from a macro perspective, in the era of Eddie Jordan, Frank Williams, Ron Dennis, or Adrian Reynard at British American Racing, you had owners who deeply understood motorsport—deeply,” Szafnauer said on the Formula For Success podcast.
“They often came from the lower ranks, either as drivers themselves, or as designers, mechanics, or in other roles, but they had a profound knowledge of racing—a deep understanding of Formula 1.”
According to Szafnauer, Force India owner Vijay Mallya was also that type of figure: “Even Vijay raced himself in India, and as a result, he had a certain understanding of motorsport, allowing us enough time to make a difference.
“If you truly understand racing, you know what it takes. You know there is no Messiah, no magic wand. It requires sustained, long-term, high-quality work to eventually win—because everyone else is just as competent.”
“But the new owners are not like that. They don’t understand much about motorsport. They see Formula 1 as just a sport, looking at football teams that can change five players in a year and go from mid-table to winning, and they think the same can happen in motorsport.”
Szafnauer confirmed that he opposed Renault Group’s decisions, as they wanted him to make major changes to the team’s personnel. Decisions that Flavio Briatore is now making, reinforcing the idea that the team is being managed with a financial rather than a sporting logic.
“In Formula 1, in particular, that cannot happen—it takes a long time to keep improving year after year, to keep progressing and eventually win. If you look at Adrian Newey’s success at Red Bull, it took him five years to win a championship.”
“Mercedes’ success when they bought Brawn, a team that had just won a world championship—it still took them five years to win again, to claim another title. And those were teams that did it very quickly, but not everyone can do it that fast.”
“So it takes time, and I quickly realized that at Renault or Alpine, the owners had no understanding of motorsport, and their expectations did not align with reality.”
“They wanted overnight success. They wanted me to fire everyone, just like in a football team. They wanted me to change 20% of the staff.”
“And when I said, ‘No, that’s not how it should be done. I can’t fire people who are doing a good job just to change a culture. That’s not how things work,’ I knew it was time. They had different ideas about how to run a Formula 1 team, and I couldn’t stay.”
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Alpine Chaos: Szafnauer Exposes Team’s Flawed Vision Alpine Chaos: Szafnauer Exposes Team’s Flawed Vision Alpine Chaos: Szafnauer Exposes Team’s Flawed Vision
