Otmar Szafnauer pinpoints the moment he knew Alpine’s F1 team were ‘untrustworthy’

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Otmar Szafnauer was one of the most experienced people in Formula 1 when he was sacked by French team Alpine last season.

After finishing fourth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2022, Alpine found themselves in the bottom half of the table when they arrived at the Belgian Grand Prix the following year.

Midway through the race weekend, it was announced that team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane had been let go with Bruno Famin brought in as his interim replacement.

Pat Fry also left Alpine for rivals Williams and a period of instability followed that still exists to this day.

Famin is no longer in charge with Hitech boss Oliver Oakes brought in by new executive advisor Flavio Briatore.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Briatore continues to make signings behind the scenes, although the recent announcement that Renault will stop producing F1 power units after the 2025 campaign highlights the delicate position the manufacturer is currently in.

Szafnauer was a guest on the High Performance Podcast and one of the topics that he talked about was his difficult time with Alpine.

After Szafnauer admitted to paying millions to cover the salary of his staff, he spoke about his treatment by the company in the public eye.

In particular, Szafnauer talked about the mistake Alpine made with Oscar Piastri and how his treatment throughout that saga left him feeling like he couldn’t trust those above him within the team.

Otmar Szafnauer highlights the ‘untrustworthy’ nature of his time with Alpine

Explaining what happened when McLaren poached Piastri from Alpine, Szafnauer said: “We put out a press release and the press release has my image on it. So number one, nothing has to do with me. I wasn’t even there.

“But number two, the communications department that didn’t report to me thought it was a good idea to deflect the incompetency of those that were Alpine at the time by putting my picture on the release.”

Jake Humphrey then asked: “And you firmly believed that it wasn’t just a case of well he’s the team principal, let’s put him on.”

Szafnauer continued: “The lady who actually put the picture on, Lucy Genon, worked for me at Force India.

“So I went to Lucy, and I said Lucy you know better than this. She said I’m sorry I was told to do this.

“It just showed at the time that there are some people within the Alpine organisation that were untrustworthy and that were out to get me. So they weren’t working with me.”

F1 rivals already trying to poach Renault engine staff after ending Alpine power unit program

Alpine’s position since sacking Szafnauer hasn’t improved and they’re in a battle not to finish last in the Constructors’ Championship this season with Williams and Sauber.

The Swiss who are set to be taken over by Audi have yet to score a point and although that appears unlikely to change, it would only take one freak result for Alpine to sink to the bottom of the pile.

READ MORE: What Renault engineers told Otmar Szafnauer about Daniel Ricciardo

Alpine’s decision to abandon their factory team status to become a customer outfit is unprecedented in F1.

Although it will save them money, they’ll also be losing control over the direction the development of their car goes in.

Ferrari have already started working on poaching some of Renault’s engine staff, suggesting that other teams see potential in their workforce, even if they don’t believe they can compete with their rivals on the grid.

It only highlights how far they’ve fallen in recent years and begs the question of how they think they’re going to achieve the success they desire in Formula 1.