Szafnauer dismisses "spiral of misinformation" Alpine rumours

Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has strongly dismissed rumours linking him to a role at rival F1 team Alpine as "pure media speculation".

Reports emerged ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix weekend that Szafnauer had supposedly agreed to a deal in principle with the French manufacturer, with CEO Laurent Rossi looking to shake up the management structure at Viry and Enstone.

That speculation had been gaining traction with reports Davide Brivio, Alpine's racing director, is seeking a return to MotoGP just a year after making the switch to four-wheels in the wake of a championship-winning campaign with Suzuki.

Aston Martin has had its own reshuffle in-house, with the arrival of former McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh to oversee the brand's operations, although it was stressed this would not effect Szafnauer's role at the team.

The Silverstone-based outfit had released a statement saying the rumours were "speculative conjecture" but Szafnauer himself has now taken to social media to insist there is no fact behind the reports.

"My Aston Martin communications staff have correctly issued a spokesperson's statement to the effect that rumours linking me to Alpine are merely 'speculative conjecture' and that they would not therefore comment further," his statement read.

"However, since the rumours have now been sensationalised on certain websites, creating a spiral of misinformation, I have taken the decision to proactively confirm hereby that the rumours are pure media speculation and not based on fact."

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