'Be quiet!' – Fernando Alonso slams sacked F1 boss

Fernando Alonso has not held back while criticising his former Formula One boss Otmar Szafnauer after he was sacked by Alpine last week.

Ahead of last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Alpine announced that team principal Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane would be leaving the French outfit over the summer break by ‘mutual consent’.

The surprising and controversial decision was made due to the hierarchy feeling the team had not reached its short-term targets of challenging for podiums and wins on a consistent basis.

Since rebranding as Alpine from Renault in 2021, they have achieved just three podium finishes, including Esteban Ocon’s remarkable victory at Hungary 2021, and this season have been leapfrogged in performance by rivals Aston Martin and McLaren.

Furthermore, the team were involved in an embarrassing saga last summer when they lost star driver Alonso to Aston Martin and highly-rated academy graduate Oscar Piastri to McLaren.

Szafnauer had only joined Alpine at the start of 2022 and believes he deserved more time to achieve the team’s goals, saying: ‘The reality is that changes take time.

‘I signed some good people from other teams, but they are still stuck in their contracts and won’t come until 2024 or 2025. You can’t really push development if people aren’t there. It takes time for people to come and it takes time for people to work together correctly.’

Alonso, who won his two world championships with Renault in 2005 and 2006, sees things differently however, and criticised his former team for taking him for granted while discussing why he chose to leave.

‘I don’t think I felt disrespected, but it is true it took longer than I thought when we started conversations. I think it was in Australia back in [April] 2022 about renewing the contract,’ the 42-year-old told BBC Sport.

‘It was just on a very slow pace, and it was not from my side. I was just ready and happy. The 2022 car was a fast car so I was also happy with the performance and the possibilities into the future.

‘So that slow pace of conversations and eventually not even putting on paper what we were writing and all these comments about the age and whatever, which they are still doing.

‘When you are doing the best you can every weekend, when I did so many things for Renault as well, you take a little bit personal when someone is doubting your performance or your age or these kinds of things.

‘And you just want to prove even extra hard that you are in the best moment of your career. The results, they speak for themselves, and that’s the best way.

‘It is the way they do things, or the way Otmar does things. Because after this year, he should be quiet. He should not talk at all.

‘After the results of Aston Martin and the results he’s achieving, he’s still talking and still proud of the decision, which is incredible, amazing.’

After 12 races of the 2023 season, Alonso is third in the standings with six podiums and 149 points – nearly three times the number of points Alpine have scored between their two drivers Ocon and Pierre Gasly.

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