Szafnauer leads sudden exodus of key Alpine F1 personnel 

The team have also confirmed that sporting director Alan Permane is also departing after 34 years at Enstone, while veteran engineer Pat Fry has been signed by Williams.

Alpine Vice President of Motorsports Bruno Famin, will assume the role of interim team principal from the Dutch Grand Prix. 

Szafnauer was appointed as Alpine team principal in February 2022 as part of a management restructure following his exit from Aston Martin. 

"BWT Alpine F1 Team announces today it will part ways with Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer by mutual agreement following the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix," a team statement read. 

"Otmar will continue his duties as normal for this weekend’s race in Belgium, before leaving the team ahead of the summer break. The team would like to thank Otmar for his hard work over the past 18 months and for leading the team in achieving fourth place in the 2022 Constructors' Championship. The team wishes him the best for the future.

"The team can also confirm it will part ways with Sporting Director Alan Permane by mutual agreement. Alan will also continue his role this weekend in Belgium before departing ahead of the summer break. After 34 distinguished years at Enstone, the team extends its thanks to Alan and wishes him the best in his future endeavours.

"The team also announces that Pat Fry will leave the team to continue his career in Formula 1 elsewhere." 

Fry's appointment as Williams' new chief technical officer was confirmed by team boss James Vowles during Sky F1's coverage of practice at the Belgian Grand Prix. 

"These things don’t happen overnight, this was actually something that happened back in April time, when we came to terms over things," Vowles explained.

"In the meantime we’ve just been agreeing terms with Alpine as to how to do the exit in a nice way for them and a positive way for us.

"Pat comes with over 30 years of experience in the sport, he’s won 66 races, he’s worked across McLaren, Ferrari, Alpine – all of those teams in his tenure there performing incredibly well.

"When he went back to McLaren from 2018-20, you see that team turned around and really was back up in the sport and the constructors’ championship.

"He’s perfect for Williams, he rolls his sleeves up, he gets stuck in, he puts structures and systems in place, he’s empowering – I really quite enjoy Pat and have much time for him, so I think it’s a great signing on our behalf."