Otmar Szafnauer: You can’t get nine women pregnant and hope you have a baby in a month

Soon-to-be former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer says he needed more time to make the team a success, after all, “you can’t get nine women pregnant and hope you have a baby in a month”.

Joining Alpine some 18 months ago from Aston Martin, Szafnauer and Co spoke time and time again about their “100 race” plan to make the Enstone team a success.

But 33 races into his tenure as team boss, the 58-year-old has been given the boot as he was informed earlier this week that race number 34, the Belgian Grand Prix, will be his last with the team.

Otmar Szafnauer: You can’t really push development if people aren’t there

Following on from Laurent Rossi’s departure, Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane have both been ousted while Pat Fry has left the team to join Williams.

高山的副总裁Bruno Famin赛车运动and now interim team principal, cited a difference of opinion in what needs doing, saying: “We were not on the same line, on the timeline to recover the level of performance we are aiming for. And mutually we agreed to split our ways. And that’s it.”

But while stopping short of criticising the team for its decision, Szafnauer has made it known he doesn’t feel he was given enough time to turn around the team’s fortunes.

“The reality is that changes take time,” he toldSky Deutschland. “I signed some good people from other teams, but they are still stuck in their contracts and won’t come until 2024 or 2025.

“You can’t really push development if people aren’t there. It takes time for people to come and it takes time for people to work together correctly.

“I always say, you can’t get nine women pregnant and hope you have a baby in a month.”

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But still in charge of Alpine for one more race, Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix where Pierre Gasly will line up P12 with Esteban Ocon 15th on the grid just over 24 hours after Gasly secured a P3 for the team in the Saturday Sprint, Szafnauer admits this is an “unusual” situation but insists “I’ll do my best”.

Set to go on gardening leave for a year after Spa, he added: “The bad news is that it will be a year before we can do it again.”

Alpine are P6 in theConstructors’ Championshipon 53 points, 44 behind McLaren.

Read next:Otmar Szafnauer sacking: A victim of McLaren and Aston Martin surge?