Alpine continues to undergo structural changes under CEO Laurent Rossi following the team’s first season in Formula 1 under that name.
Last week, Alpine announced the departure of chief executive Marcin Budkowski, who was in fact in the role of team principal in 2021 despite the team’s insistence that such a role did not exist. Since then, Rossi himself runs the team on a temporary basis.
Sources say former Aston Martin boss Otmar Szafnauer, also recently released, will soon be announced in a similar role at Alpine.
Alain Prost has had an on-and-off relationship with Alpine’s parent company, Renault , since he was a driver for the titular F1 team between 1981 and 1983.
He was hired as a consultant and ambassador for Enstone when the company returned to full ownership of Renault in 2015.
Prost moved into a more formal role in July 2019 when he was appointed non-executive director of the British company behind the team, as a direct replacement for Groupe Renault executive Thierry Bollore .
He had an annual contract with the team, and the management chose not to renew him for 2022.
In addition, it has been learned that the Austrian water treatment company BWT will become the main sponsor of Alpine, which allows us to guess that its traditional pink color will somehow be part of the decoration of the team of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon this year.
Szafnauer already has a good relationship with BWT and their bosses, having worked closely with them when they were the title sponsor for Force India and Racing Point. Last year, BWT played a supporting role in Aston Martin Racing when Cognizant took over title sponsorship, although the green car still had some pink dots.
If confirmed at Alpine, the BWT brand would also reunite with Ocon , who was a Force India driver in 2017 and 2018.
The BWT name has already disappeared from the Aston Martin website, although its departure has not yet been officially confirmed by the team.
An Aston Martin spokesman told Motorsport.com: “We don’t normally discuss the details of ongoing business negotiations and contracts. Our full portfolio of partners for 2022 will be presented at the car launch event next month.
