Alpine Slapped with Brutal Blow in Quest to Sign Mattia Binotto as F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali Emerges as Roadblock

Settle down folks, because we have yet another twist in this turbulent tale of Alpine. The French team is currently going through a major upheaval. After firing the team principal, Otmar Szafnauer, among other staff members, the French team is scrambling to find replacements. For weeks now, Mattia Binotto was the leading candidate to take the job at Alpine. However, nothing is certain in the world of F1. Exactly how Alpine, like most of their staff and drivers, might lose their future team boss as well.

There are already a few roadblocks in Alpine’s quest for Binotto. The Italian engineer is a veteran in the world of Formula 1 and, despite his time with Ferrari, is an asset. In fact, his intricate knowledge of Ferrari and his personal relationships within the team is exactly what makes him such an attractive alternative for Alpine. However, this scenario has also made him an attractive option for the biggest institution in F1. This is exactly how F1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali is becoming a roadblock for Alpine.

As reported by Motorsport, Binotto has two offers on the table now. One, as we all know from Alpine, the other is from the F1 boss. Domenicali wants him to become the technical director of F1. This will effectively make him Domenicali’s left-hand man and give him much more influence on the sport.

From an engineer to F1’s technical director and possibly a more significant leadership role in the future. This career path should definitely attract Binotto if he wants to take a break from day-to-day racing.

Read More: $218,000,000 License to Kill Allows Alpine to Recruit Mattia Binotto & Initiate Ambitious F1 Plans

F1 boss wants Binotto for his technical knowledge and experience in the sport. Alpine wants Binotto for his knowledge and his connections to poach engineers from Ferrari. But how does Ferrari feel about the latter? One can imagine, they’re not too pleased with these reports.

Ferrari boss fires warning at Mattia Binotto and Alpine as they plan to kick off another round of F1 silly season

The Italian team’s new French boss has already lost a handful of capable hands to rival teams in the last few months. With already a lot of shuffling and turbulence in the team, Ferrari would like some stability. However, with the singing of Binotto, Alpine wanted to upset Ferrari a bit more and poach some more of their engineers. Although Frederic Vasseur did not appreciate even a hint of such a scenario unfolding and made a fiery statement addressing the same.

He said, “We started recruiting massively. And this is also a message we have to send to the paddock and the team: we will do our best in every single sector.” There are high expectations riding on Vasseur’s shoulders and the team cannot afford to lose more people with the currently unreliable state of the car.

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With Ferrari also looking to recruit personnel, will there be plenty of action in the silly season still? We will soon find out!