Alpine team principal Bruno Famin says that he will remain at the helm of the French outfit, until parent company Renault tells him otherwise.
Alpine underwent a multitude of management changes in 2023 that started with former Alpine CEO Laurent Rosso being moved away from the team in July.
But at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa just before F1's summer break, the Enstone squad announced the departures of team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane, while it was also confirmed that chief technical officer Pat Fry would join Williams.
Famin, Alpine’s VP of Motorsports was then appointed interim team principal.
Amidst the upheaval and uncertainty that engulfed Alpine F1 last summer, Famin stepped into the breach, assuming the mantle of team bossl at a critical juncture in the team's trajectory.
The appointment came as a surprise to many, as the Frenchman was previously Renault's executive director of engine development at Viry-Châtillon.
However, his good understanding of the sport, coupled with his experience and leadership acumen, quickly made him a trusted figure among the team's personnel, which convinced Renault to hand him the reins of its F1 team on a permanent basis.
“It’s not my P1 task, to be honest. The P1 task was making the people working together,” Famin said, quoted by RACER.
“I am not a big fan of changing the organization for changing the organization. Because if you can change an organization in the way you want, as many times in the way you want, if the people don’t want to work together, it will never work.
“Then the point is more to find how to get the people working well together, to extract the best performance out of everyone, of the global team. That’s really the point.
“As far as I’m concerned about being team principal, I’m quite happy with the position. As far as my boss is not telling me to change, I will remain.”
Famin's arrival coincided with a period of transition for the team, as it sought to rebuild its reputation and regain its competitiveness.
The shake-up in leadership brought with it a renewed sense of direction and purpose, but also a few challenges, as confidence and credibility needed to be restored.
“I have not done anything weird or particular,” explained Famin. “What I have done is talk to people, going to the factory, going everywhere in the factory.
“I haven’t got the opportunity to talk to everybody, of course. In the time I spent in Enstone, I spent a lot of time talking to people, not only to my first report, but in the workshops, in the design office, in aero, in IT, everywhere, to confirm the project, to confirm the ambition of the project, and to share my view of how we are moving things.
“That’s for me, and then I think it was at the end of October, Luca de Meo came to Enstone, but he was talking to all the Alpine racing staff, both sides.
“He was reaffirming the project, the ambition, and also what we expect in terms of attitude from the guys, saying that need the people – all the people – to be at 100% of their capacities to be able to be competitive in such a hard fight with the competitors.”
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