Former Alpine boss, Otmar Szafnauer has hit out on the struggling French workforce and “untrustworthy” ‘colleagues’.
Controversially dropped by the French workforce at Spa Francorchamps in 2023, after simply 18 months on the helm, Szafnauer has hit out at a tradition of self-interest inside the operation that finally led to the lack of Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso, quite a few personnel adjustments and ninth within the constructor standings.
After all, to even probably the most informal observer it’s clear that one thing is badly flawed on the workforce, therefore the persevering with hypothesis over whether or not Renault intends to promote, and Szafnauer cites “untrustworthy” folks working inside the group.
“There’s just a few issues that went flawed at Alpine,” he tells the Excessive Efficiency podcast, “one in all which was I did not have management over your entire workforce.
“HR did not report back to me, it reported up via France,” he continues. “The finance workplace did not report back to me. The communications division did not report back to me and the advertising group and business did not report back to me.
“That in itself, I knew it was going to be problematic,” he provides. “Earlier than I took the job, it was stated everyone’s reporting to me. I get there and that is not the case. I believed I may handle it, however I quickly I knew that it is problematic.
“There have been solutions that I wanted to vary the company tradition in a method that I did not suppose was the suitable technique to do it,” he admits. “I understand how to vary company tradition right into a tradition that has a successful mentality and psychological security which I used to be on my method of doing.
“They wished a company tradition change otherwise to do away with some individuals who have been doing an excellent job which have been there for a very long time. And my thought was, nicely, in case you do away with people who do an excellent job, then the message you ship is: do an excellent job, get fired. That is not the tradition that you simply actually need.”
Apart from the revolving door when it comes to personnel, the incident that exposed to the world – and Szafnauer – the true turmoil inside the workforce was when it misplaced Oscar Piastri.
“There was a contract after he completed his F2 profession the place Alpine had an possibility on Oscar as a Method 1 driver for Alpine, and that contract was by no means executed,” he explains. “In November, there was a two-week time window the place it may have been finished, and it wasn’t.
“Now my level is, come the CRB (Contract Recognition Board) the place Alpine misplaced as a result of the filings have been incorrectly finished, we put out a press launch, and the press launch has my picture on it. So primary, nothing to do with me. I wasn’t even there. However quantity two, the communications division that did not report back to me thought it was a good suggestion to deflect the incompetency of people who have been Alpine on the time by placing my image on the discharge.”
Including insult to harm, the particular person answerable for the press launch had beforehand labored with Szafnauer at Power India.
“I went to her and stated ‘you realize higher than this’, and she or he stated ‘I am sorry, I used to be informed to do that’. It simply confirmed on the time that there are some folks inside the Alpine group that have been untrustworthy and have been out to get me.
“They weren’t working with me. And when you do not care in regards to the efficiency of the workforce, what you care about is your energy base greater than the efficiency of the workforce, that is if you do these forms of issues.
“In case you get a bunch of individuals from, say, the Renault Group now being put answerable for a Method 1 workforce, you do not care about on-track efficiency, you care about your profession.”
Returning to the lack of Piastri, who subsequently joined McLaren, Szafnauer says: “Though they did not signal the contract in time, what was in that contract we delivered to Oscar, and that was not insignificant, was 5000 kilometres in a two-year-old automotive that price some huge cash… and we did that.
“We completely did every little thing that was meant to be finished by that contract that was by no means signed,” he provides. “In English regulation, had we taken it to an English courtroom, perhaps we’d have gained.
“You realize, that is unjust enrichment. You realize, you did not signal the contract, however you took all this and you are not delivering what you are imagined to ship.”
After all, firing Szafnauer (and Alan Permane) did not treatment the plain points at Alpine, for the American’s ‘departure’ was adopted by quite a few different comings and goings and a workforce seemingly in freefall.
“I do not know the place they’re in the present day, ninth or one thing within the championship, it is a catastrophe,” he says. “Again then, yeah, it is a half-step again, however typically you are taking a half-step again to take two steps ahead.”
