Team advisor and F1 legend Alain Prost has left Alpine in a shock departure as Otmar Szafnauer’s name continues to be linked to the team.
Prost and Alpine (then Renault) go back a long way. His association with the team began in the 1980s when he was racing for them. He drove for the tea, for three seasons before retuning in an administrative role as consultant and ambassador.
The former world champion became non-executive director with the company in 2019. Two years later, Renault would be rebranded as Alpine, but he will not be there for Year Two of the overhaul.
According to reports, Prost has left Alpine in a shock departure as the team’s mass exodus continues ahead of the 2022 season.
Prost becomes the second major hit in the team after Marcin Budkowski resigned as executive director. These many layoffs make sense from an overhaul point of view, but it is questionable this close to the new season.
More to come
As reported by Motorsport.com, the changes are not completed. With more departures rumoured to take place, there will obviously be some high-profile arrivals.
One of them is rumoured to be former Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer. He will be replacing Budkowski directly should he join. Austrian water treatment company BWT are set to follow Szafnauer to Alpine. The compant was a major sponsor of the Force India and Racing Point teams before they were rebranded as Aston Martin.
When Aston Martin was asked about the Szafnauer and BWT rumours, their spokesperson revealed that everything would be addressed at their car launch.
“We don’t usually discuss the details of ongoing commercial discussions and contracts,” he said.
“Our full 2022 partner portfolio will be presented at our car launch event next month.”
Read more: Prost expresses dislike for triple-headers – “I was losing a little bit of interest”