Sergio Perez reacts to sudden sacking of former F1 team boss

Sergio Perez, like many in the Formula 1 paddock, was taken by surprise when Alpine announced the sacking of team boss Otmar Szafnauer, a decision he believes was premature.

The F1 2023 campaign has been far from a successful experience so far for the Alpine team who find themselves down in P6 in the Constructors’ standings and struggling to make that breakthrough to fight for the top positions, as rivals Aston Martin and McLaren have done this season.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

And following Laurent Rossi’s recent replacement in the Alpine CEO role and Bruno Famin’s switch to the vice president of Alpine Motorsports position, further major changes arrived for the team during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

Otmar Szafnauer given the boot by Alpine

On the Friday at Spa-Francorchamps, it was announced that team principal Szafnauer, who joined the team ahead of the 2022 campaign, had been dismissed effective as of the end of the race weekend, with veteran presence Alan Permane also removed from the sporting director role.

Szafnauer made a point of feeling that he had not been given enough time to get Alpine firmly onto a wave of progress in their 100-race plan for F1 glory, and that opinion is shared by Perez.

Now a Red Bull driver, Perez worked with Szafnauer at the Force India/Racing Point outfit from 2014-2020, during which time the Silverstone-based team developed a reputation for delivering strong performances on a more modest budget compared to Formula 1’s big-spending top teams.

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“Yeah, I think I was quite surprised with it, given how short notice it was,” Perez told media including PlanetF1.com.

“I think Omar is great. For any person in that position you’ve got to give them time. And I think Omar lacked time to really show his potential.

“Which I know is huge because I’ve seen what he’s done in other teams with very limited budgets, and with not-so-limited budgets as well.

“So I think it’s a shame that they let him move on. But yeah, I think whoever comes needs to have proper time because all these things in Formula One takes massive time.”

Rumours in the paddock suggest that former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto is in contention to take over from Szafnauer as Alpine team boss.

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