As the 2023 Sumer break approached Alain Prost launched a blistering attack on former Alpine chief executive Laurent Rossi accusing him of “incompetence, arrogance and a lack of humanity” towards his employees.

As early as the Miami Grand Prix Rossi had publicly criticised Alpine’s efforts describing them as embarrassing and amateurish. This appeared to precipitate the latest shakeup at the Enstone based team which saw team principal Otmar Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane and chief technical officer Pat Fry all sacked.

 

 

 

Prost scorn for Alpine hierarchy

Prost expressed dismay at what had become of the F1 outfit. “I love this team, and I am saddened and distressed to see it in its current state,” the four-time world champion told L’Equipe.

Prost had been an advisor and non-executive director to the French owned F1 squad from 2015-2022 and believed too much corporate meddling and a failure to understand how F1 works were to blame for Alpine’s current chaos.

“If you look at the great success stories from the last 30 years, you will see a simple structure – unlike an industrial organisation chart – built around three or four strong personalities, coupled with a winning driver,” argued Prost.

The greatest ever French F1 driver goes on to outline in his experience Renault has always run its F1 teams this way and turned his ire on Laurent Rossi who was CEO until a week before the departure of Permane et al.

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“Laurent Rossi is the best example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, that of an inept manager who thinks he can overcome his incompetence with his arrogance and his lack of humanity towards his people.

“He was Alpine’s boss for 18 months and thought he understood everything from the outset, yet that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Prost concluded.

Permane had worked for the Enstone employers under various guises for 34 years and was respected throughout the organisation but the Alpine Vice President Brunni Famin revealed in the view of the hierarchy the team was being managed badly but those behind the car were doing a great job.

Technical director Matt Harman was retained along with the head of engines, though in reality the car and power unit were both just mediocre.

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Red Bull snap up Alpine chief

Clearly the sacking of Szafnaeur and Parmane was more about who runs the team with Rossi and his cohorts believing they knew better.

Parmane’s experience having worked with team Enstone during the glory years with Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso meant he was always going to be on the shopping list of other teams.

motorsport.com are now reporting Permane is set to join there Red Bull junior team. ScuderiaAT is still awaiting its official competition name for the season but has been relocating a number of its functions from Faenza Italy to England this winter.

The former AlphaTayuri squad are being re-shaped and working more closely with Red Bull under Laurent Mekies who left Ferrari to replace Franz Tost. Given Christian Horner’s response to the news of Parmane’s sacking by Alpine its hardly a surprise they have swooped to recruit the former Enstone stalwart.

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Horner praises Parmane

“Alan Permane is one of the rocks of F1,” commented Horner. “He is one of the longest standing senior engineers in the sport, and certainly someone with a lot of knowledge. 

“I don’t know about the ins and outs of the management reshuffle there, but there is a lot of very respectable people in there. And definitely, you shouldn’t discount anyone of that seniority.” 

The Enstone team has a chequered past with Renault being indecisive over whether it wants a works outfit or not. The team has been on the brink of extension and through it all Alan Parmane remained, something Horner paid tribute to

“He’s very much been a constant there during that period. I think that earns respect and recognition, and I’m sure he’s a guy, like with Otmar, that won’t find themselves out of work. 

“It won’t be the last you’ve seen of them in the pitlane, no doubt about that.”

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AT set for rebirth

Clearly Red Bull believe Parmane brings a huge amount to the party and the improving AT will have his old team in their sights this year.

With Ricciardo back from injury and the first signs of AT closer co-operation with Red Bull, ScuderiaAT finished the season strongly just failing to overhaul Williams for P7.

The team are rumoured to be ultimately moving close to the Red Bull campus according to F1 writer Joe Saward. He believes the retraction of the Red Bull planning application for a wind tunnel suggests the site will be used for something else.

AlphaTauri like Ferrari have found it difficult to recruit all their required staffing positions whilst based in Italy given the majority of F1 personnel live and work in England’s motorsports valley.

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Ferrari’s replacement for Sainz mooted as contract talks drag on

As Williams finally settled for the cash Logan Sargeant brings, rather than sign a driver for this year who is capable of scoring points, the Formula One driver market for 2024 was finally settled. Compared to the previous season with the retirement of Sebastian Vettel and Alonso’s shock move from Alpine together with the Oscar Piastri drama, 2023 was a sedentary matter by usual standards.

Mercedes settled on retaining Hamilton for two more years along with his team mate George Russell and somehow Sergio Perez survived the chorus of calls for him to be replaced at Red Bull Racing.

Yet a big question remains over how Ferrari are handling their winter driver talks. The Italian media reported before Christmas that a new 5 years contract was ready to go for Charles Leclerc but that Ferrari only intended to lock down Carlos Sainz until the end of 2025…. read more