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Alpine F1 Team

Prost's scathing attack on Rossi after Alpine exits

The four-time F1 champion was a Renault/Alpine advisor before leaving in 2022.

Alain Prost Laurent Rossi
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Alain Prost has branded Laurent Rossi "incapable" and 'incompetent' following massive leadership changes at the Alpine Formula 1 team.

Rossi left his role as Alpine CEO earlier in July, being replaced by Philippe Krief in an internal reshuffle before Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane departed their roles after the Belgian Grand Prix.

Pat Fry is also leaving Enstone to take up the Chief Technical Officer role at Williams.

Rossi was vocal at the Miami Grand Prix, branding the team's start to the season as "amateurish" following a poor weekend in Azerbaijan and multiple penalties for Esteban Ocon in Bahrain.

Through all the upheaval, four-time World Champion Prost has blasted Rossi, who he describes as suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Prost unhappy with Rossi

"First of all, I have to say how attached I am to this team," Prost told L’Equipe.


"I love this team and to see it in this state today saddens and distresses me. It deserves better and has everything it needs to get there.

"I simply believe that you have to look at history to understand what went wrong [with the team].

"If you look at the great successes of the last 30 years, you will find a simple structure, detached from an industrial organisation chart, built around three or four strong personalities, coupled with a champion driver.

“In my years at Renault, how many times did I hear in the hallways of the headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt that F1 was a simple sport that could be managed from home by the men in place?

"That was a huge mistake, as was proven with the last of the directors, Laurent Rossi, whom Luca de Meo (Renault Group CEO) let go a week ago.

"Rossi is the most beautiful example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, that of an incapable leader who thinks he can overcome his incompetence by his arrogance and lack of humanity towards his people.

"He was Alpine boss for 18 months and thought he understood everything from the start.

"His management broke the momentum that had been put in place since 2016 to reach the podium and victories."

The Dunning-Kruger effect relates to when somebody's lack of knowledge or skills in a certain area causes them to overestimate their ability and competence.

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