The Romanian-born American has moved to Alpine as part of a management shake-up at the Enstone-based squad ahead of the 2022 season, after being at his previous squad for more than a decade.
Reflecting on the change of teams, which came despite him having a contract in place and being firm it was always his intention to stay, Szafnauer said the crunch point came at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when he was told his influence at Aston Martin was to be limited.
Speaking ahead of the F1 season opener, Szafnauer said his future was set once he realised that he could not continue doing the team principal job at Aston Martin as he had intended.
“They made it very clear to me that the responsibilities that I used to have before, were never given back,” he said.
“And once I learned that, then it was really time to move. It was at the last race. I was told: you used to be able to run the team but you’re not running it any more.”
Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522
Photo by: Mark Sutton…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Autosport.com – Formula 1 – Stories…