BWT Alpine F1 Team have announced Otmar Szafnauer as their new Team Principal last Thursday, as well as the appointment of Bruno Famin as the Executive Director of Alpine Racing in Viry-Châtillon and Davide Brivio as Director of Racing Expansion Projects. This series of management changes come as part of a review launched in November 2021, with the purpose of enhancing team operations in light of 2022’s new technical regulations.
“With Otmar and Bruno joining the team, we move to a new level for 2022. Otmar will bring his unique experience in motorsports and his uncompromising desire to win, while Bruno’s proven track record in building technologies that make a difference in competition and their subsequent transference to road cars is critical for our project as a sports team and as a brand,” said Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi.
“Over the past year I have seen Davide’s talent to identify the best in people, and to make them perform as well as they can. I am delighted to utilize this unique skill across all existing Alpine assets and new ones we are just starting to explore. Our band of racers is complete and ready to bring the team towards its ambitious objectives in 2022.”
Szafnauer previously led Force India, Racing Point and, most recently, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team. Known for his ability to extract high performance with limited resources and help teams reach their true potential, Szafnauer hopes to help Alpine achieve its goals in the sport.
“I am thrilled to join BWT Alpine F1 Team and ready to get to work with everyone to achieve our challenge: bring the team to fight for the Championship within the next 100 races. My attention is focused on preparing for the start of the season in Bahrain. As one of the three car manufacturers involved in Formula 1, Alpine is fully armed to achieve its ambition, I can’t wait to start the journey!”
Famin most recently held the role of Deputy Sport Secretary General at the FIA, and has fifteen years under his belt with Peugeot. At Peugeot he relaunched the company’s motorsport program and oversaw the transfer of motorsport technology to production vehicles, through Peugeot’s sports vehicle conception. Taking on the role of Executive Director of Alpine Racing at Alpine’s Viry-Châtillon factory, Famin will be involved in developing a competitive power unit fit for the new regulations and bringing F1 technology to Alpine cars.
“It’s great to be back in competition, and even greater to join Alpine, with such ambition and unique engineering capacities. Viry-Châtillon is among the greatest factories one could dream of, I can’t wait to join its amazing talents, and to work closely with the teams in Enstone, Dieppe, Les Ulis and Boulogne-Billancourt,” Famin said.
Named Director of Racing Expansion Projects, Brivio has been with Alpine since 2021 and will be tasked with the establishment of new opportunities for Alpine to expand into within the world of motorsport, as well as the identification of new talent to bring to the team’s ranks through the Alpine Academy.
Brivio said, “Alpine’s band of racers is a key to its long-term performance, and I’m thrilled to be able to contribute to the exciting ambition to shape a new culture within racing that is responsible and inclusive. Formula 1 is a flagship, but we also need to develop our ambition in new territories, and I am ready to support Laurent Rossi towards this goal.”
