F1 News: Alpine's Former Boss Blames Team's "Firing" Policy For Poor Performance In Bahrain

The former team principal of Alpine emphasized that the team failed to create an atmosphere of "psychological safety".

Former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer, who was ousted from the team last year as a part of its restructuring process, revealed the reason behind the team's P17 and P18 finish in Bahrain on Saturday. The ex-team boss explained that Alpine's inability to create an atmosphere of "psychological safety" due to its hiring and firing practices is now in the way of its performance. 

Key Takeaways:

• Former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer attributes the team's P17 and P18 finish in Bahrain to the lack of "psychological safety" created by the team's hiring and firing practices.
• Szafnauer, ousted in 2023 during Alpine's restructuring, points to the decisions at the highest level, affecting team dynamics and performance.
• Alpine's human resources challenges continue with the departure of technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer, impacting the team's 2024 car performance.

Szafnauer, who became part of Alpine in 2022, and former sporting director Alan Permane exited the team during the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix weekend amid an already challenging season for the Enstone-based team. 

Following the team boss's exit, the vice president of Alpine Motorsport, Bruno Famin, took over the role of interim team principal before becoming permanent ahead of the 2024 season. 

However, Alpine's human resources problem seems to be intensifying with the exit of technical director Matt Harman and the head of aerodynamics, Dirk de Beer, who currently serve their notice periods until April. 

In between all the hiring and firing games at play, what suffered the most was the performance of the team's 2024 car, the A524, during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Calling out the team's primary problem responsible for the sorry state of affairs, Szafnauer told Viaplay:

“The stopwatch doesn’t lie and it didn’t look very competitive.

“I do understand that. People at the highest level making not-so-good decisions, firing people and not creating psychological safety in a team, that’s a result that happens thereafter.

“But I get it, it’s a hard game, Formula 1. You have to do a lot of things right and if you get some of them wrong, it bites you.”

In dealing with these new challenges, Alpine's attention will undoubtedly shift to formulating plans to address its current predicaments and recalibrate strategies for the upcoming season. The team's capacity to rebound from these setbacks and compete effectively will be closely observed by the F1 community, especially with car upgrades on the horizon.

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