The Alpine team is in all sorts of disarray. As the team continues to lose senior personnel, one of the latest exits was that of Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer. He left the team after the Belgian GP, and Bruno Famin has taken the role in the interim. As the French team continues to find a replacement, reports have started pointing to a certain individual sacked by Ferrari. That’s right! Mattia Binotto might be making a comeback to Formula 1.
Alpine’s Personnel Woes
In the last few years, Alpine has lost a lot of its senior figures. Embarrassingly, it has also lost some of the replacements to those senior figures. Alpine announced that Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry is moving to Williams. Only a few days after that, the team announced the exit of its Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer, and Sporting Director Alan Permane. The team announced that the Belgian GP would be their last race.
As the team continues to struggle on track, these changes are not helping. They created a new role, VP of Motorsport, which Bruno Famin has filled. CEO Laurent Rossi has been shifted to ‘other projects’. The contract saga with Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri which engulfed the team last year is still fresh.
The Unlikely Saviour
As Alpine continues to struggle, they have sought out a candidate who helped another struggling team recover very recently. That man is Ferrari’s ex-Team Principal, Mattia Binotto. He was reportedly present during the Belgian GP, and the talks are quite advanced.
Also Read: ‘Super Intermediate tyre’ for Formula1 being pushed by Pirelli, useful or not?
On paper, Alpine and Ferrari have quite similar struggles. Both have racing teams controlled by men in suits from their headquarters. According to many, he trusted the wrong people at Ferrari and paid the price for it. However, if he finds an ally in Renault CEO Luca De Meo, he might just be the man they need. He knows how to steer a ship in difficult times, and his technical knowledge is extremely good.
Do you think he is the right man for the job? Who will Alpine finally pick? Keep following us to find out.
Follow InsideSport on GOOGLE NEWS / Follow Formula 1 Updates with InsideSport.IN.