Laurent Rossi has been moved aside as CEO of the Alpine Formula 1 team.
Rossi, who joined the company in 2021, had overseen Alpine’s F1 organization but he has now been reassigned onto special projects within the company.
Rossi has been replaced in the F1 CEO role by Philippe Krief. It comes in the wake of Bruno Famin taking on the position of vice president of Alpine Motorsports. Krief is set to take a wider role at Alpine than Rossi and is not expected to have direct involvement on the Formula 1 project.
“Bruno's been with us for over a year in Viry and also in endurance racing and Dakar and this just adds Formula 1—although he was part of Formula 1 already, so, it's not really that big of a change,” said Alpine’s Formula 1 tyeam principal Otmar Szafnauer. “And then on the corporate side, the there's a new CEO of Alpine Cars, whose focus will be Alpine Cars and not Formula 1.”
Hungary Gets a Five-Year Extension
Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix will remain on the calendar through at least 2032 after a five-year extension was agreed.
Formula 1 has raced in Hungary since 1986 at the Hungaroring, located around 12 miles outside of capital Budapest, and only Italy’s Monza has a longer unbroken streak on the calendar. The circuit is set to shortly embark on major renovation works to its main paddock building, main grandstand and spectator zones, with the project expected to be completed in time for the 2026 Grand Prix.
The main paddock building at the Hungaroring is charmingly old-school and has not had significant changes in its near-four-decade existence.
“To see the commitment from the promoter in Hungary to develop the facilities and further enhance the experience for fans is another important step and something we want to see all our events doing in order to continue to improve and make our races even better,” said Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
The weekend attendance in 2023 was 303,000, up from 290,000 in 2022.
Latifi Goes Back to School
Nicholas Latifi has kept a quiet profile since his three-year Formula 1 stint with Williams came to an end last November. He has now revealed that he has put his racing career on hold in order to study for an MBA at the London Business School.
“Growing up I always had a keen interest in the world of business, and I always said it was something I would have studied at university had I not gone the racing route,” said Latifi, 28. “An MBA was always something that I had contemplated doing post-racing life, even if that had been into my late 30s and early 40s. I began devoting my time to researching business schools and seeing which ones would be a good fit, preparing an application for them, and studying for the GMAT—a test required by most business schools to go along with your application. This was not an easy process and took many months! Anyone who has experienced the journey of applying to a business school knows how difficult it can be.”
Latifi is set to begin his course next month in London, the city he has called home since leaving Canada in his teens to pursue racing.
FIA Downplays Budget Cap Breach Rumors
Rumors abounded in Hungary that a few teams may be in breach of the 2022 financial regulations. This, the FIA says, is so far unfounded.
Last year the 2021 results – the first season in which there were such regulations – were issued in mid-October, and the FIA has been keen to make the process swifter year-on-year. This has included expanding its team working on the financial regulations from four to 10. The FIA’s auditing team has been visiting factories for several months and undertaking the necessary processes.
“We’d like to reiterate the ongoing process preceding financial regulation certification for the teams—none of which have been informed of the certification status,” said a statement from the FIA on Sunday. “The auditing fieldwork is still ongoing and is scheduled to conclude in the upcoming weeks, after which there will be a period required for the finalization of the review.”
The governing body went on to emphasize that “there is not, and has never been, a specific deadline for certification, and any suggestions of delays to this process or potential breaches are completely unfounded.”
Upcoming F1 Commission Has Full Plate
Several key aspects are set to be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the Formula 1 Commission this week.
On the agenda:
• Whether to ban tire blankets for the 2024 season.
• The formation and number of F1 Sprint races next year.
• Whether to amend the cost cap rules.
The latter is being pushed by several teams—most notably Williams, Alpine and AlphaTauri—who want a greater allowance to spend on upgrading infrastructure and facilities, which will help close performance deficits in the longer run. There are also set to be talks on engine equalization to allow certain changes under the engine freeze rules, in place through 2025, with the Renault-powered Alpine squad understood to be lagging behind its competitors.
