Szafnauer: Rumours of Alpine F1 switch “not based on fact”

Ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, a number of reports emerged linking Szafnauer with a move away from Aston Martin. 

Szafnauer is currently the team’s CEO and team principal and has been since Lawrence Stroll took over the team in the middle of 2018. 

The report by Autohebdo suggested that Alpine could have a vacancy free with current Alpine race director Davide Brivio potentially being tempted back to MotoGP.

Aston Martin has already signed ex-McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh as Group CEO, although his role is to do with the company’s wider activities, rather than the F1 racing team.

In response to the rumours, Szafnauer took to his social media account and wrote: “My Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team communications staff have correctly issued a spokesperson’s statement to the effect that rumours linking me to Alpine F1 Team are merely ‘speculative conjecture’ and that they would not therefore comment further.

“However, since the rumours have now been sensationalised on certain websites, creating a spiral of misinformation, I have taken the decision proactively to confirm hereby that the rumours are pure media speculation and not based on fact.”

Aston Martin currently sits seventh in the F1 constructors’ championship with four rounds to go in 2021.