The Romanian leader was the head of Aston Martin for several years, even in the days of Force India, but at the end of 2021 rumors began about his departure from the structure.
The paddock began to link Szafnauer with Alpine, one of the direct rivals of the Silvestone team, and that made him question his future. However, during the Brazilian GP he said that he had “no intention of leaving”, and that he enjoyed a long-term contract, calling this information from the media mere “speculative guesswork”.
After the start of 2022, Aston Martin announced his departure from the team, and it was not until a month later, already in February and a few days before the start of preseason, that his arrival at Alpine was announced.
Asked by Motorsport.com what had changed since he said he would not be leaving Aston Martin, Szafnauer explained that “time had passed”.
“At the time, there was no intention of going out,” he acknowledged during the second week of 2022 testing in Bahrain . “But as time progressed and things changed at Aston Martin, I thought it was better for all parties to look the other way.”
Szafnauer played a key role in the Force India team’s transition to Racing Point following the financial collapse in 2018, before being rescued by Lawrence Stroll . The team was rebranded as Aston Martin for 2021 after the Canadian businessman took a large share of the British carmaker.
Nonetheless, the appointment of former McLaren driver Martin Whitmarsh as the new CEO of the Aston Martin group led to questions about Szafnauer ‘s position.
The former chief executive officer of the English team joined Alpine as part of a wide-ranging management shake-up, leading to the departure of previous chief executive Marcin Budkowski .
“I’m enjoying it a lot,” said the Romanian. “This is my sixth day, and I’ve already spent a few days in the factory, trying to hang around and meet as many people as I could at this start.”
“I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of faces that I knew in the past, whether it be from Honda, BAR or even Force India. I know how people are, and there is great potential, with like-minded people, pushing in the same direction wanting do well,” he said.
“They have a great history, they’ve won before, they have a good infrastructure, so I’m really looking forward to working with everyone,” Szafnauer concluded.
