“They are rumors, calciomercato”, settled Luca de Meo in his interview with AS, but when the river sounds, water carries. The CEO of Renault wants to make more changes in the leadership of the team Alpine and has been associated for months with Otmar Szafnauer, Aston Martin’s chief executive officer in Formula 1. The magazine first reported ‘Autohebdo‘, in France, although Szafnauer has avoided speaking out since then. The 57-year-old American engineer of Romanian origin has a long-term contract with the Lawrence Stroll firm and they will not let him out easily because they consider him a key piece from that humble Force India that made podiums.
“In F1 the contracts are very long, and before being able to activate a signing, or things like that, one or two years pass. I have changed a lot of people at Renault and it will continue to be like that, my people know that if they don’t do it well, forever I’m going to keep looking until I find the starting eleven “, De Meo said about the changes that sound, but do not finish arriving. It is a fact that there is harmony between the Italian and Szafnauer, it is enough to meet both on the same grid to corroborate it. There are greetings and complicity. In anything, the Alpine facelift is not over.
The question now is to know in what position it would be Marcin Budkowski, the French engineer who inherited the executive leadership of Alpine F1 Team with the departure of Cyril Abiteboul, and that he has fulfilled his functions with apparent success: a victory in Hungary, plus a podium in Qatar, as a loot in 2021. At the same time, Davide Brivio acts as race director on the circuits after his arrival from Suzuki in MotoGP and it seems a very important figure for De Meo, although not everyone on the circuit sees him that way. Meanwhile, Laurent Rossi is the CEO of Alpine, leading the car brand. On the other hand, this year, Remi Taffin, responsible for the engines, no known spare part.
Alpine was the fifth manufacturer in the Constructors’ World Cup thanks to the points of Alonso, tenth in the table, and Ocon, eleventh. The Frenchman won at the Hungaroring and thus signed the first official victory of the team, because with the name change the account starts and those who achieved Renault or Lotus are left behind. The Asturian was third in Losail. There was one less podium for Enstone than in 2020, but the general feeling was one of improvement. Although they ask for more.
Todt and the Ferrari rumor
During the Abu Dhabi GP, a possible return of Jean Todt to Ferrari in an advisory capacity was also reported in Italy. The French leader ended his 12-year term as president of the FIA, although neither he nor the team publicly commented on the possibility of some kind of connection. “Please don’t come back,” Christian Horner joked with him at the press conference of the trophy ceremony. The rumor gains weight. For now, on January 10 an announcement from Maranello regarding the direction of the company is expected (John Elkann has held the presidency and executive direction since the departure of Camilleri), although Binotto warned that there will be no changes in the competition department .
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