Sergio Perez commented on the sacking of Otmar Szafnauer from Alpine, claiming his former boss at Force India and Racing Point was not given the time to show his potential.
The way Otmar Szafnauer was unceremoniously shown the door at Alpine over the weekend of the Belgian Grand Prix was one of the hot topics as Formula 1 went into its summer break.
Szafnauer had only been with the team since the start of the 2022 F1 season, a campaign Alpine finished fourth in the Constructors' Championship, but it seems the big wigs in the parent company Renault, namely CEP Luca de Meo, grew impatient with the Team Principal who was given a realistic chance to deliver change.
Sergio Perez has known Szafnauer since their days together at the team once known as Force India, then Racing Point, then Aston Martin, and has worked closely with the Romanian-American engineer, and heaped praises on the man who steered Force India threw tough times, when its owner at the time Vijay Mallya was facing legal charges and financial troubles.
At the time, Perez took legal action against Force India over unpaid salaries which meant the team went into administration, after which the Lawrence Stroll-led consortium bought the name and renamed it Racing Point in 2019, after which it was rebranded Aston Martin for the 2021 season. Perez insisted at the time that what he did aimed a saving the 400 jobs within the team, and throughout those tough times, Szafnauer was at the helm of the Silverstone-based squad.
Szafnauer should've been given time
Perez, naturally, would be in a good position to comment on Szafnauer's firing from Alpine, he was quoted by F1's Official Website saying: "I think I was quite surprised with it, given how short notice it was.
"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.
"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 massive time," the Mexican driver concluded.
Since Szafnauer left Alpine with immediate effect, there have been rumours that former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is being lined up to replace him.
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