Szafnauer named Alpine Team Principal as Rossi confirms new structure

Alpine have appointed Otmar Szafnauer as their new Team Principal with former Deputy Sport Secretary General for the FIA Bruno Famin joining to head up the engine division.

The duo will report to CEO Laurent Rossi, who took over the running of the team last January and has since been reviewing how the squad operates before making changes.

During that period, long-time Renault employee Remi Taffin left his role heading up the power unit division, while Executive Director Marcin Budkowski parted ways with the team earlier this year.

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Ahead of the team’s launch of their 2022 car – built to sweeping new technical rules – on Monday in Paris, Alpine announced the new organisation it says will allow the team to “fight for the championship within 100 races of the introduction of new regulations”.

Szafnauer left Aston Martin early in the new year and joins Alpine with 33 years of experience across motorsport, having been linked with a move to the French manufacturer last November. Famin will be Executive Director of Alpine Racing at their engine base in Viry and brings with him 15 years of experience working with Peugeot on their motorsport projects in addition to his work with motorsport’s governing body the FIA.

The third change sees Davide Brivio move from his role as Racing Director and away from the Formula 1 project to focus on developing young drivers in a new role of Director of Racing Expansion Projects, covering all racing categories Alpine competes in plus their Academy.

“With Otmar and Bruno joining the team, we move to a new level for 2022,” said Rossi. “Otmar will bring his unique experience in motorsports and his uncompromising desire to win, while Bruno’s proven track record in building technologies that make a difference in competition and their subsequent transference to road cars is critical for our project as a sports team and as a brand.

“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. I am delighted to utilize this unique skill across all existing Alpine assets and new ones we are just starting to explore. Our band of racers is complete and ready to bring the team towards its ambitious objectives in 2022.”

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Szafnauer said: “I am thrilled to join BWT Alpine F1 Team and ready to get to work with everyone to achieve our challenge: bring the team to fight for the Championship within the next 100 races. My attention is focused on preparing for the start of the season in Bahrain. As one of the three car manufacturers involved in Formula 1, Alpine is fully armed to achieve its ambition, I can’t wait to start the journey!”

Famin added: “It’s great to be back in competition, and even greater to join Alpine, with such ambition and unique engineering capacities. Viry-Châtillon is among the greatest factories one could dream of, I can’t wait to join its amazing talents, and to work closely with the teams in Enstone, Dieppe and Boulogne-Billancourt.”

Brivio said: “Alpine’s band of racers is a key to its long-term performance, and I’m thrilled to be able to contribute to the exciting ambition to shape a new culture within racing that is responsible and inclusive. Formula 1 is a flagship, but we also need to develop our ambition in new territories, and I am ready to support Laurent Rossi towards this goal.”