13/11/2021
NEWS STORY
Once again, Aston Martin boss, Otmar Szafnauer has dismissed reports that he is leaving the team for Alpine.
24-hours after taking to social media to calm growing speculation linking him with a move to the French team as part of a management restructure, Szafnauer took the opportunity of the official FIA press conference to reassert that he is not going nowhere.
"It's always humbling and flattering to say if Alpine are reorganising, I think Laurent Rossi said that in Mexico, for the media to speculate that I could be wanted there," said Szafnauer. "It's always nice to be wanted.
"I've been at the team for 12 years, I have no intention of leaving," he responded when asked if he would state categorically that he would be with Aston Martin next season. "I love this team. Most of the senior managers, especially through Racing Point, the senior leadership team was recruited and put there by myself, and I have no intentions of leaving them.
"I've been loyal to this team," he continued. "I've had many, many offers in the twelve years that I've been working for this team, especially in the days of the bankruptcy and insolvency. I could have left many times, but I'm loyal to the employees there."
Though he insists he will be with Aston Martin in 2022, pushed on his future beyond that he appeared a little more evasive.
"I learned a long, long time ago that predicting the future is an impossibility," he laughed. "And if I could do that, I would be in Vegas now.
"I'm fully committed to the team I'm in," he added. "I've been there forever. I have no intentions of leaving.
"I've got to focus on the rest of the season. The season hasn't gone quite to what we thought it was going to, how it was going to go."
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