Alpine team boss Szafnauer reacts to his departure for the first time

It came as a surprise and yet perhaps not: Otmar Szafnauer is working on his last Grand Prix in the service of Alpine. By mutual agreement, the team boss' contract has been dissolved. Szafnauer thus leaves and Alpine finishes the season with Bruno Famin. The Romanian-born driver will do his side of the story on Friday evening.

Remarkably, Szafnauer said only last week that he did not fear for his position yet. Just a few days later, the world suddenly looks very different. What has changed in that short space of time? At ESPN, he answers that question.

"Well, we had a double DNF in Hungary. Not great, but... Anyway. The thing that really changed is I had a timeline in mind for changing the team, making it better. "That timeline, I thought it was realistic, because I know what it takes. I've done it before. I think some of the senior management at Renault had a shorter timeline in mind," Szafnauer responded.

The outgoing team boss thinks Alpine is too high up the tree in terms of expectations. "I think so. I've always said, Mercedes took five years from buying a winning team. Red Bull took five years from buying Jag, which was a pretty solid mid-grid team. It takes time. That's what it takes. If you can't reconcile that -- I think one thing, they think another -- it's best to part ways."

Szafnauer not done with F1 yet

With that, Szafnauer confirms that he himself thought it was pretty much finished with the Viry-based team. Szafnauer is now going on a 12-month gardening leave, so will not be active in the premier class of motorsport for the time being. However, he still sees a future for himself in Formula 1, so who knows, we might see him back in twelve months' time.