Sergio Perez reveals Alpine shame after Otmar Szafnauer exit

Sergio Perez

Perez reveals SHAME at rival team after stunning Spa developments

The news surprised quite a few in the paddock, including Perez

Joe Ellis

Thursday 3 August 2023 13:42

Sergio Perez was very surprised to hear that Alpine and Otmar Szafnauer had parted company at the Belgian GP.

Szafnauer and Perez worked together at Racing Point but the former was let go by the French team after the race in Spa, along with Alan Permane and Pat Fry.

Perez, who finished second in Belgium, is now at Red Bull which is famously quick to hire and fire drivers if things are not going well.

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Despite that, he feels that Szafnauer deserved more time to implement his ideas into the team, although Laurent Rossi disagreed.

Perez: Otmar is great

Otmar Szafnauer is left without a job in F1 but his expertise could be of interest to many teams on the grid

"Yeah, I think I was quite surprised with it, given how short notice it was," Perez told the media after the Belgian GP.

"I think Otmar is great, any person in that position, you’ve got to give them time. And I think Otmar lacked time to really show his potential, which I know is huge because I've seen what he's done in other teams with very limited budgets and with not so limited budgets as well.

"So I think that it's a shame that they let him move on but yeah, I think on the other hand, whoever comes needs to have proper time because all these things in Formula 1 takes a massive time."