Sergio Perez believes his former boss Otmar Szafnauer should have been afforded more time to make Alpine a success in Formula 1 before being ousted by the team.
Szafnauer and Alpine announced it would part company during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend after disagreements over when the manufacturer needed to become a race-winning outfit.
While he felt Alpine would not hit its long term targets until 2026 at the earliest, senior bosses stressed it needed to be delivering results much sooner.
This difference in opinion ultimately led to an agreement between both parties to go their separate ways just 18 months after Szafnauer joined the team, with sporting director Alan Permane also leaving.
Perez previously worked with Szafnauer when he raced at Force India/Racing Point and when asked about his reaction to his departure, he felt Szafnauer deserved more time to shape Alpine’s future.
“I think I was quite surprised with it, given how short notice it was,” said Perez, as quoted by Motorsport.com.
“I think Otmar is great, [and] any person in that position, you’ve got to give them time. I think Otmar lacked time to really show his potential, which I know is huge because I’ve seen what he’s done in other teams with very limited budgets and with not-so-limited budgets as well.
“I think that it’s a shame that they let him move on but I think, on the other hand, whoever comes needs to have proper time because all these things in Formula 1 take a massive time.”
Not everyone, however, has been sympathetic towards Szafnauer’s exit, with Fernando Alonso stressing he shouldn’t be proud over how he managed Alpine after the mishandling of his contract before he chose to join Aston Martin.
Speaking to the BBC about the contract talks saga last year, Alonso said: “It was just on a very slow pace, and it was not from my side. I was just ready and happy. The 2022 car was a fast car so I was also happy with the performance and the possibilities into the future.
“So that slow pace of conversations and eventually not even putting on paper what we were writing and all these comments about the age and whatever, which they are still doing.
“It is the way they do things. Or the way Otmar does things. Because after this year, he should be quiet. He should not talk at all. After the results of Aston Martin and the results he’s achieving, he’s still talking and still proud of the decision, which is incredible, amazing.”
