Szafnauer: Look, I'm still alive, I didn't die! I'll be alright

Alpine strangely didn't wait for the Belgian Grand Prix weekend to finish but announced Szafnauer would be leaving along with long serving Sporting Director Alan Permane, while both were still working on the team's pit wall in Belgium. Laurent Rossi was also removed from his role as CEO earlier.

While Permane has been with the team for 34 years, Szafnauer has only joined early in 2022, and was just getting up and running, as he claimed.

On his way out of the paddock at Spa-Francorchamps, Szafnauer told Motorsport.com: "For me personally, I'll be alright and I'm fine.

"It's just my worry is for the all the wonderful men and women at Enstone and Viry that work hard and do a good job. I hope their future is bright," he added.

"I was just getting into my stride, starting to know everybody, how to motivate them. You know, a high tide lifts all boats, and I was just getting to the point where I was raising the tide.

"There were people, not me so much, but people crying and saying goodbye. I told them, ‘Look, I'm still alive, I didn't die! I'll be alright.’," the Romanian-American insisted.

Despite all the turbulence, Alpine had a decent weekend in Belgium, with Pierre Gasly finishing third in the Sprint race, while Esteban Ocon scored points in Sunday's Grand Prix after finishing eighth.

The former Alpine boss reflected: "Another couple of laps and it looked like we were catching Lando at the end. It was really good. Decent pace, we showed that yesterday [Saturday] too, with Pierre finishing third.

"So a very good race, and unfortunately Pierre was compromised at the beginning when he got stuck behind Piastri, and he went so far back. I mean, he was running 18th for most of the race effectively. So for him to come back to 11th and nearly get there was also good.

"So a sprint podium and good points in Spa, fighting with McLaren. Two races ago it was all, 'Oh, they're going to win the world championship now,' and here we were fighting with them," Szafnauer concluded.

Szafnauer recently claimed that Alpine were demanding results in a timeline that was not logical in his opinion, siting that as the reason behind the separation.

Alpine are yet to announce a new Team Principal, with interim boss and Vice President of Motorsport Bruno Famin insisting they are not in a hurry.

“As far as the Team Principal function is concerned, for the time being I’m going to do it, I will think about it, and I will decide. But there is no hurry, we can manage it," Famin insisted.