11/11/2021
NEWS STORY
Aston Martin boss, Otmar Szafnauer has dismissed media speculation linking him with a shock move to Alpine.
The speculation follows the recent arrival at Aston Martin of former McLaren boss, Martin Whitmarsh, who has been appointed Group Chief Executive Officer of the newly created Aston Martin Performance Technologies.
A number of media outlets have linked Szafnauer with Alpine in recent days, with Motorsport.com today claiming that "sources with good knowledge of the situation", have confirmed that he has agreed to the move "in principle".
With Aston Martin and Alpine both refusing to comment, Szafnauer this afternoon took to social media to say: "My Aston Martin team communications staff have correctly issued a spokesperson's statement to the effect that rumours linking me to Alpine F1 team are merely speculative conjecture and that they would not therefore comment further.
"However, since the rumours have now been sensationalised on certain websites, creating a spiral of misinformation, l have taken the decision proactively to confirm hereby that the rumours are pure media speculation and not based on fact."
Nonetheless, the speculation continues.
Following the surprise confirmation of Whitmarsh at Aston Martin, Szafnauer had said he didn't expect him to be involved in the F1 team.
"I would imagine at the beginning, most of his time will be spent growing the Aston Martin Performance Technologies area, which is where his most recent expertise lies, and not focus so much on F1," he said.
"But the bit that hasn't been planned is how much of his time will be spent where."
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