General
Alpine's top criticised: 'People there deserve better management'
Towering ambitions, but no results. It is becoming a bit of a repetitive story at Alpine. Marcin Budkowski saw it happen in the past at the French racing team and by mid-2023 it is happening again. According to him, parent company Renault is simply not putting enough money into the Formula 1 project.
Being on the front row for a dime in the premier class does not work, not even Alpine. Budkowski, who was Renault/Alpine's technical director for three years until early 2022, became a victim of reorganisation himself and now sees the same thing happening to Alan Permane and Otmar Szafnauer.
Poor management by Alpine
"I know many people there and I am in constant contact with them. They deserve something better, better results and better management," said Budkowski, who is admittedly happy that former CEO Laurent Rossi had to step down. He fully agrees with Alain Prost (himself sidelined by Rossi last year), whocalled the sacked CEO an"incompetent arrogant man".
"In general, Alain and I often see things the same way. I spoke to him shortly after the announcement of these changes at Alpine. Frankly, I am also sad because this team is close to my heart. I spent many years there, " he said. "The problem with Renault has always been that the ambitions were very high and the finances inadequate. Every year the ambitions were higher and higher, but the resources put in were not. However, Renault's management never wanted to hear about that," Budkowski told the Polish branch of Viaplay, where he is employed as an analyst.
Szafnauer himself stressed that he left by mutual agreement with Alpine. Budkowski notes that the Renault top brass did not have enough patience for his approach. "Otmar has spent many years in Formula 1 with different teams. He knows what it takes to win and how difficult it is to get it done. He also knows how much money successful teams spend and how long it takes to win. This approach was probably not appreciated by Renault."