Otmar Szafnauer responds to people ‘crying’ as he left Alpine: ‘I haven’t died!’

Ousted Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer said there were tears, not necessarily from him, as he bid farewell to the team following the Belgian GP.

Alpine caused quite a stir on the Friday of the Belgian GP when they announced that Szafnauer was to leave the team after that race weekend, with the veteran presence of sporting director Alan Permane also to depart.

Chief technical officer Pat Fry meanwhile confirmed that he would be heading to Williams to take up the same role.

Otmar Szafnauer reveals Alpine staff fighting back the tears

As Szafnauer then bid farewell to the team which he joined ahead of the 2022 campaign, he detailed the emotional scene within the Alpine camp.

He was not though sure why some people were moved to tears, as it was not like he had “died”.

“Personally, I’ll be fine,” he toldMotorsport.com.

“I’m just worried about the wonderful men and women at Enstone and Viry, who work hard and do a good job. I hope their future is bright.

“I was just starting to get in tune with the team, getting to know everybody well, how to motivate them. You know, high tide lifts all boats, and I was starting to get to the point of rising tide.

“There were people, not so much me, crying and saying goodbye. I was telling them, ‘Look, I’m still alive, I didn’t die. I’m going to be fine’.”

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While the timing of Alpine’s management exodus has been criticised by some, the team were able to end this Szafnauer era on a high with Pierre Gasly recording a top-three finish in the Belgium sprint.

Esteban Ocon then scored points with a P8 finish in Sunday’s Grand Prix, crossing the line a second behind McLaren’s Lando Norris.

“So we took a podium on Saturday and good points on Sunday at Spa, fighting with McLaren,” Szafnauer reflected.

“Just two races ago it was all, ‘now they’re going to win the World Championship’, and here we’re fighting on track with them.”

Alpine sit P6 in theConstructors’ Championshipas Formula 1 enters its summer shutdown, 46 points behind McLaren a position ahead.

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