The hitherto non-executive director of Alpine has not renewed his contract with the Alpine Formula 1 team, but the news has leaked before the official announcement of both parties.
Alain Prost, four-time world champion and an important piece in the history of Renault in Formula 1, leaves Alpine with a bittersweet taste after leaking on the morning of Monday, January 17, that his contract had not been renewed.
The French arrived at Renault F1 in February 2017 with the aim of supporting Cyril Abiteboul in the renewal and promotion of the team, which had previously belonged to Lotus and was in a delicate situation.
But last winter, coinciding with the conversion of the team to the representative formation of the car brand Alpine and the recent arrival of Luca de Meo to the presidency of the Renault Group, Abiteboul was fired and Laurent Rossi arrived to lead Alpine Cars.
A tricephaly that no longer exists
Since then, Alpine has been managed by three people, laurent rossi as the main person in charge of the institutional and commercial area, Marcin Budkowski in charge of the factory and technical development, and Davide Brivio in charge of the sporting and organizational aspect in the circuits.
Budkowski was recently fired and now Alain Prost is also saying goodbye visibly upset with Laurent Rossi. “I am very disappointed in how this news has been announced today! It was agreed that we would announce it together with Alpine F1! What disrespect! I have rejected the offer made to me in Abu Dhabi for the 2022 season due to a personal relationship and I was right. To the Enstone and Viry team, I will miss you.”
Rossi wants all the attention
The four-time champion, and former owner of the Prost Grand Prix team, has also offered his first interview after confirming his departure, stating that Laurent Rossi wants all the attention for himself.
«When the boss does not greet you when you arrive at the circuit it is because there is no fun or respect, and that doesn’t work. Rossi wants to be alone, that no one contaminate him, ”says Alain Prost. “He told me in Qatar that he didn’t need any more advice, and still he offered me a contract in Abu Dhabi, which I refused.”
«Laurent Rossi wants all the spotlight, when what interests me is the challenge of belonging to a team and being in the decisions», reiterates a Prost who reveals that Luca de Meo offered him the presidency of Alpine F1 at the end of 2020. «In September 2020, Luca de Meo offered me to be president of Alpine F1. In principle I accepted.
Subsequently, the departure of Cyril Abiteboul and the subsequent arrival of Laurent Rossi changed the plans, with Prost remaining as non-executive director of the team. «The 2021 season was disruptive, too complicated. He was not involved in the decisions and sometimes he did not share them either, but he had to follow the official discourse. I found out about some at the last minute. There was jealousy.”
Doubts with the engine
Despite everything, Alain Prost has faith in the work done and believes that Alpine can meet its ambitious goals in 2022. The Frenchman only expresses a doubt with the engine, which will be completely new and will have to prove its worth after three seasons of poor performance. development in this area.
“A great job has been done and this direction will have to be judged by the results of the next two years. Everything was launched by 2022. It is an ambitious project. There is only the question of the engine, not for reliability but for performance, but that will not be known until the car is on the track».
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It is to be hoped that the arrival of Otmar Szafnauer will be announced soon as Budkowski’s replacement, all as part of the restructuring plan that Laurent Rossi announced weeks ago in the team in which he plays. Fernando Alonso.
This year, Alpine intends to take advantage of the arrival of the new technical regulations to move up the grid and become one of the regular teams in the fight for the podium and victories.