Otmar Szafnauer has been forced to speak up and put down stories of him leaving Aston Martin to join Alpine in a larger F1 role.
Post the Mexico GP, French publication AutoHebdo raised a question over Szafnauer and if he was to join Alpine going forward amid discussions of the French manufacturer looking to continue with its expansion project on automotive and racing side.
The news then gained momentum as English websites started reporting it, citing that Szafnauer would take up a larger role at Alpine from his current work at Aston Martin – much similar to how McLaren is run among Zak Brown and Andreas Seidl.
The information comes amid stories of Davide Brivio returning to MotoGP with Suzuki after having joined Alpine earlier in the year. With the news spreading, Aston Martin and Szafnauer were forced to release a statement and put down the stories.
“My Aston Martin communications staff have correctly issued a spokesperson’s statement to the effect that rumours linking me to Alpine are merely ‘speculative conjecture’ and that they would not therefore comment further,” wrote Szafnauer.
“However, since the rumours have now been sensationalised on certain websites, creating a spiral of misinformation, I have taken the decision to proactively confirm hereby that the rumours are pure media speculation and not based on fact.”
Only time will tell what comes out of it but Szafnauer has been a key member of Aston Martin under Lawrence Stroll. In fact, he is the biggest figure to remain on with the outfit after the takeover from Force India, and was duly promoted to a larger role.
It is a unique situation as well with both Aston Martin and Alpine being car manufacturers and so the move is more in the sideway direction, although the role and the money that may come with it, could be a reason to jump ship if indeed.
When asked current Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel – who joined the team earlier in the year having spoken to Stroll and Szafnauer – stated that, “I heard that, but I don’t know what’s going to happen”, while praising his current boss.