Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer discloses who the second 'pope' at Aston Martin is

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer has revealed that he was referring to Aston Martin's CEO Martin Whitmarsh when he said that the British team had “two popes” controlling it.

Speaking to F1.com, the Romanian-American team principal clarified an earlier comment that he had made while talking about his exit from his former team. He said:

“People ask me who that pope was – well it wasn’t Lawrence [Stroll] because everyone has a boss. I have one here [at Alpine] as well and that’s in place everywhere. But once they brought in Martin Whitmarsh, that’s the other pope I was talking about.”

Following his exit from Aston Martin, Szafnauer claimed that the “two popes” within the team had made it difficult for him to do his job as a team principal. It was thought at the time that he was referring to team owner Lawrence Stroll and his infamous hands-on approach to managing the team.

However, the Alpine team principal clarified that the comment was not about Stroll. He explained that Whitmarsh’s appointment as Aston Martin's CEO, with similar responsibilities to him meant that he could not work the way he intended to. He said:

“For both of us to sit in the same space and try to do the same thing just doesn’t really work. But it wasn’t about Lawrence. Lawrence is still the owner and the boss over there. I have a boss here, Laurent [Rossi], and that’s all understood and clear, and that’s how it should be.”

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“Serious talks” to join Alpine only started in 2022: Otmar Szafnauer

Despite rumors of him joining the French team had been circulating since 2021, Otmar Szafnauer maintains that he had only started having “serious talks” with Alpine earlier this year. He said his decision to leave his former team followed the realization that he simply could not stay there any longer.

He said:

“The serious talks began this year, in the new year, and that’s only after it was clear to me it was the best thing to do – to depart Aston Martin. That’s when I started looking elsewhere and it was just a match at Alpine.”

Otmar Szafnauer’s exit from Aston Martin earlier this year was a surprise to many in the F1 paddock, given his decade-long association with the Silverstone outfit throughout its various guises.