Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has praised Alan Permane for his spell with 'Team Enstone' after it was announced he would leave Alpine after the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. The French manufacturer shocked the F1 paddock with the timing of the announcement that both Sporting Director Permane and Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer would be spending their final races with the team at Spa-Francorchamps. Alpine is in the midst of widespread management upheaval, with a new CEO coming in to replace Laurent Rossi, who has been moved to special projects. Bruno Famin has taken interim charge of the F1 project by virtue of his position as Alpine Motorsports VP.
Horner backs Permane return
Asked for his reaction to the changes, Horner told media including RacingNews365 : "It's very much Alpine business and nothing to do with us. "But as far as the individuals are concerned, Otmar has obviously been around for a little while and he's always been very straightforward to deal with and had good knowledge of the business. "I think for Alan, or Bat as I think he's better known in the pit lane, 34 years in any job is a truly remarkable achievement. "To go from Benetton to Renault to whatever… Lotus, back to Renault to Alpine, he's been one of the mainstays there and obviously been there through the World Championship periods of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, so a hugely competent guy. "I doubt he's going to be unemployed for too long but just hats off to what he's done with that team, particularly, one has to look at the difficult periods when they were looking at insolvency and the issues with shareholders and the transfer for all the team. "That's when the team needs clear guidance and leadership and mainstays and I was particularly impressed at that point in time that he was a solid pillar. So best of luck for him for the future."
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