Otmar Szafnauer reveals the surprising Zoom dismissal and details the internal disagreement over Alpine F1’s team culture direction.
Otmar Szafnauer explained how he was dismissed by Alpine F1, with Renault executives informing him of the decision via a Zoom video conference.
Szafnauer was fired as team principal of Alpine F1 during the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix weekend.
He had only been in charge for 18 months after leaving Aston Martin F1.
While Alpine was still far from competing at the front of the grid, it was clearly leading the midfield pack, securing two podium finishes during the 2023 campaign.
However, this wasn’t enough for Renault’s top management, who dismissed him during the race weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
Reflecting on his firing, Szafnauer told the High Performance podcast: “It was simply announced to me during a Zoom video call by Renault’s head of HR. Directly from Renault Group HR,” Szafnauer revealed.
Szafnauer also disclosed that there was a disagreement about how the team’s culture should be changed.
“Some suggested I should change the corporate culture in a way that didn’t seem right to me.”
“I know how to transform corporate culture into one with a winning mentality and psychological safety, which is what I was doing.”
“They wanted a corporate culture shift but in a different way, including getting rid of certain people who had been doing a good job and had been there for a long time. And I thought if you get rid of people who are doing a good job, the message you send is: ‘do a good job, get fired.’ That’s not the culture you want to instill, really.”
The team currently sits ninth in the F1 Constructors’ Championship and has abandoned its engine project for 2026.
“This isn’t because I left. It’s because a large number of people left.”
“Those who left were actually doing good work. Most of them are now with other teams.”
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Szafnauer Fired on Zoom: Alpine’s Culture Clash Exposed Szafnauer Fired on Zoom: Alpine’s Culture Clash Exposed
