Alpine reportedly considering recruiting Aston's Szafnauer!

Alpine is reportedly mulling recruiting current Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer as part of the French outfit's future organizational shake-up.

Alpine is currently fighting for fifth in F1's Constructors' championship, but the manufacturer's CEO Laurent Rossi is determined to steer the Enstone squad towards the top of the grid and to see it contend for podiums and race wins on a consistent basis and eventually for a world title.

However, to fulfill those ambitions and take the team to the next level, Rossi suggested the team will likely need to revise, among other things, its management organization.

The team currently relies on a three-pronged structure headed by executive director Marcin Budkowski and racing director Davide Brivio, who both report to Rossi.

"To move to the next stage and become the best of the top teams rather than just the best of the rest, it's another evolution that is needed," Rossi told Motorsport.com.

"I want first to finish the season in P5, and second make sure that at Enstone and Viry everyone is focused on developing the new car for next season.

"Then I'll make my call regarding evolving the organisation at large and the top management in particular."

However, French weekly Auto-Hebdo believes that Rossi has already made up his mind regarding a management reshuffle, and speculates that Alpine is considering recruiting Szafnauer to head its efforts in F1.

"Amongst the restructuring projects is the recruitment of Otmar Szafnauer, who is reportedly under pressure at Aston Martin," contended Auto Hebdo F1 reporter Jean Michel Desnoues.

"Szafnauer could take over the management of the French-British team."

• Read also: Rossi outlines Alpine's 100-race path to the top of F1

A long-standing member of the Silverstone-based outfit since its Force India days, Szafnauer is a quiet force at Aston Martin and an experienced operator who was instrumental last year in the team's efforts to recruit four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

However, team owner Lawrence Stroll's massive ambitions for Aston has led the outfit to strengthen its own management structure by enlisting former top McLaren man Martin Whitmarsh as its Group Chief Executive Officer.

Whitmarsh's arrival may have led Szafnauer, who reports to the latter and to Stroll, to question his future with the team and may incite the American to consider an offer from a rival outfit.

It's all conjecture for now and if Szafnauer's recruitment by Alpine is really on the cards, it would likely signal Brivio's departure from the team and a return to MotoGP for the former Suzuki boss. Watch this space…

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