Is there a big shake-up about to hit Formula 1? Explosive rumours about ex-Vettel boss Otmar Szafnauer reported by this website seem to be coming to fruition, and more.

After leaving Aston Martin Formula One team, Otmar Szafnauer will apparently soon be taking up a new position at Formula 1 rival, Alpine. But the former team boss of Sebastian Vettel is not alone in moving to the French-British F1 racing team – and is causing a big shake-up.

Rumours about Otmar Szafnauer’s move to Alpine as Formula 1 team boss have been circulating for some time. In mid-January, the Renault-owned team cleared the way for the new boss with the departure of technical director Marcin Budkowski.

The Polish-born driver had recently also taken on many management tasks at Alpine and formed a kind of dual leadership with sports director Davide Brivio.

Formula 1: Lucrative sponsorship deal for Alpine?

If you believe the Spanish “Marca” newspaper that TJ13 reported on earlier this week, Szafnauer is not going to Alpine alone. According to the report, the Romanian-American engineer has a presumably lucrative sponsorship deal in tow for his new employer with the water technology company BWT along with the prospect that former team boss Flavio Briatore could be in the frame to replace Alain Prost as non-executive ‘advisor’.

Until recently, BWT was Aston Martin’s sponsor. However, the company’s logo disappeared from the homepage of Vettel’s racing team a few weeks ago. Further, BWT had been the main sponsor of the predecessor team Force India and Racing Point since 2017, which was resulted in the striking pink livery of the car.

Alpine in Formula 1 soon in pink?

According to Marca, Szafnauer is also taking Andrew Green, a renowned Formula 1 engineer, with him to Alpine.

He is currently still technical director at Aston Martin, but will then work on making the Alpine car more competitive for the period from 2023. Pat Fry, currently responsible for aerodynamics at Alpine, could move into the background or leave the team altogether.

Indeed a big shake-up for the Formula 1 paddock.