Alpine has been one of the biggest disappointments of the 2023 season so far, particularly because of their lofty ambitions heading into the campaign. With the team struggling with performance and reliability issues, the pressure is on team Principal Otmar Szafnauer, who could be replaced by former Ferrari F1 team principal Mattia Binotto..
Binotto, who left Ferrari in 2022, is currently on gardening leave, but recent reports claim that the 53-year-old could make an F1 return as early as next year. However, when Alpine presented an offer to Binotto, he rejected it as reported by Formu1a.uno. The proposal may still stand, but as of now, it is unclear as to whether Charles Leclerc’s former boss will make a move to lead the Enstone-based outfit.
Regardless of whether Binotto accepts the offer or not, it is clear that Szafnauer’s position is under threat. When the season started, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi made it clear that his goal is to finish fourth, but as things stand, they are a long way away from achieving that.
Binotto’s former team Ferrari is currently in fourth place, with 78 points to their name. McLaren is behind the Scuderia with 14 points, the same as Alpine who are in sixth. Rossi is not happy with the state the French team is in right now and wants to see immediate changes.
Otmar Szafnauer has to accept responsibility for Alpine’s failures
Alpine’s car this year is very different and much slower than what they made in 2022. With Fernando Alonso’s departure and Pierre Gasly’s arrival, things were supposed to be brighter for the outfit. Unfortunately, Gasly hasn’t been able to do much with the underwhelming mechanical package at his disposal.
Gasly and Ocon haven’t been a consistent threat to the points as of yet, and despite showing some signs of progress in the Australian GP weekend, Alpine is still miles away from where they want to be. While not everything can be put on Szafnauer’s shoulders, Rossi insists that the American has to bear the responsibility if things go south.
In an interview with Canal +, Rossi said:
“I accept mistakes. But not that they are made twice. This means mistakes are not being learned from.”
Life at Ferrari after Mattia Binotto left F1
Binotto’s Ferrari stint came to an ugly and premature end after this disappointing finish to the season in 2022. The Maranello-based outfit started the year as a championship contending team, but ended up losing both titles to Red Bull by quite a comprehensive margin.
Former Sauber team principal Frederic Vasseur took over from Binotto, and is overseeing a huge transition at the team, with several notable senior figures departing. In terms of performance, Ferrari are much slower than they were last year at the same time with Binotto at the helm.
Being one of the brightest minds in F1, especially in the powertrain department, Binotto won’t be on the sidelines for very long. He may reject Alpine’s offer, but several other top F1 teams would keep an eye out for the Swiss-Italian’s availability in the coming months.
