In the round-up: Former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer says he never had the level of control he wanted with the team.
In brief
Szafnauer felt misled over lack of control at Alpine
Otmar Szafnauer, the former team principal at Alpine until he was removed by the team before the summer break in 2023, says he did not receive the level of power in the team that he had expected when stepping into the role.
“There’s a few things that went wrong at Alpine, one of which was I didn’t have control over the entire team,” Szafnauer told High Performance. “So for example, and I knew straight away: [human resources] didn’t report to me, reported up through France; The finance office didn’t report to me, reported up through France; The communications department didn’t report to me and the marketing group, commercial, didn’t report to me. And that in itself I knew was going to be problematic.
“Before I took the job, it was ‘everyone’s reporting to me’. I get there and that’s not the case. And I knew at the beginning – I thought I could manage it, but I knew it’s just problematic.”
Szafnauer defended his tenure in charge of the team, pointing out they are in a worse situation now. “I don’t know where they are today – ninth or something in the championship – today it’s a disaster. Back then, yeah, it’s a half-step back, but sometimes you take a half-step back to take two steps forward.”
IndyCar announces new Texas street race
IndyCar has announced a new street race which will take place in Arlington, Texas in March 2026. The event is being organised in conjunction with the Texas Rangers baseball team and REV Entertainment. The layout of the 14-turn, 4.69 kilometre track is due to be revealed today, and will pass by the Rangers’ stadium as well as that of the Dallas Cowboys American football team. IndyCar’s 17-round 2025 calendar features four street races.
Six F3 drivers confirmed for 2025
McLaren junior driver Brando Badoer, stand-in driver Noah Stromstead and GB3 race winner Gerrard Xie are among the new names announced to be joining next year’s F3 championship on a full time basis.
Badoer, son of former F1 driver Luca, is currently competing in the Formula Regional European Championship taking seven podium finishes from 18 starts including five second-places. He will race with Prema next season in the F3 championship, while Stromstead has secured a full time drive with Trident and Xie will race with Hitech,…
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