Longtime engine director of Alpine/Renault, Remi Taffin, has reportedly left the F1 team in a mutual parting between the two parties.
The news around Taffin has been mentioned multiple times in the past week or so, but so far, Alpine has remained silent on the subject. However, in a new report from Reuters, they have an unquoted statement from F1 outfit about his departure.
It says that Taffin left Alpine/Renault by mutual agreement in early July, in what is a confirmation, when asked by them. This ends a long-serving association between the two, which started way back in 1999 – which included two F1 titles in 2005 and 2006.
While Enstone houses the main F1 workforce, Taffin was based at Viry-Chatillon in France, which primarily works on the engine side. The news of his departure comes just over a week from Esteban Ocon’s race win in Hungarian GP at Hungaroring.
The Alpine website, though, still carries the name of Taffin as its engine director, alongside Davide Brivio (Racing Director) and Pat Fry (Chassis Director). With the summer break on, it is unlikely that the team will speak more to media, unless there is a press release.
Taffin is the second high profile person to leave Alpine after Cyril Abiteboul ended his terms with Renault after the end of the 2020 F1 season. The French outfit is looking for a revamp under Laurent Rossi, with the goal still to win the world championship.
On engine side, Alpine has made steady progress, but has lost its customer teams, with Mercedes having four, while Honda and Ferrari having two apiece – although the Japanese manufacturer is also to leave F1 at the end of the 2021 season.
Here’s details of Remi Taffin on Alpine website: https://www.alpinecars.com/en/formula-1/the-team/remi-taffin/#anchor
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