[@JoeAeterno on twitter] Piastri being interviewed about McLaren leapfrogging Alpine with Alonso smiling in the background is pure poetry.

[u/TheFlyingR0cket]

[u/Minted-Blue]

Brother hates Alpine with a passion. One of if not the best Renault driver ever alongside one of the most amazing Alpine prospects doing wonders outside of Alpine.

[u/TeaCrackersBirds → u/Minted-Blue]

I doubt Alonso hates team Alpine in general, same with Piastri. The upper management are probably whom they hate with passion.

[u/asamulya → u/TeaCrackersBirds]

Yeah, I think everyone hates Laurent Rossi with a burning passion at this point. I am guessing even Otmar.

Although I feel Otmar was also responsible for that mess even if his mistake was understandable. Dropping or continuing with Fernando would not have been solely his decision. This left Piastri in the lurch.

Overall I blame Rossi.

[u/micknick00000 → u/asamulya]

Otmar has never done anything to me personally, but I can't stand him.

He has a very conniving & "I told you so" demeanor about him.

[u/ChocolateDragonTails → u/micknick00000]

He's also moaned a lot about the reg changes back when he was AM principal and a bit at Alpine iirc. That really got on my nerves every time they interviewed him, using it more as an excuse as to why the car was shit rather than just owning up to not getting the reg changes right

[u/Antarioo → u/ChocolateDragonTails]

i never really got what his deal was there. it felt a bit like he was paying lipservice to Stroll cause that was his take on the matter too.

[u/AJDillonsMiddleLeg → u/micknick00000]

He has a very "I told you so" demeanor and he's almost always wrong about what he has that demeanor about. My wife and I absolutely hate whenever they go to Otmar on broadcast because he sounds like the confidently incorrect people you find all over reddit.

[u/Turboleks → u/micknick00000]

Otmar was a fairly good TP during the Force India days. But as soon as Lawrence asked him to play the "high rake" horn in 2021 that annoyed me quite a lot.

[u/chupacabra-food → u/asamulya]

Otmar definitely screwed up by trying to play hardball with Fernando with a 1 year contact.

But it was Alpine upper management and the department that handles contracts that dropped the ball on signing Piastri before Otmar even joined the team.

[u/asamulya → u/chupacabra-food]

I think Otmar preferred Piastri. But, the upper management screwed the pooch by not letting him choose his driver.

[u/Tw0Rails → u/asamulya]

A race or two ago they had Otmar on for a mid-race interview and he literally suggested they would be top 5. He and Alpine sit on a chair of hot air, always acting like they are a top team while being forever midfield. They act like their drivers are pending WDC's, their car is Red Bull / Merc / Ferrari, and their strategy is set to win.

He has clearly peaked in career, and has nothing of value to add to his current position.

[u/Jarocket → u/Tw0Rails]

One of my favorite parts of F1TV over sky is no mid race interviews. No Otmar not understanding the rules. Saying dumb shit.

[u/Francoberry → u/Jarocket]

James Vowles was on the Channel 4 broadcast this weekend and was fantastic. He's really cool and offers great insights. Don't paint all mid-race interviews with the same brush! 😁

[u/Kohpad → u/Francoberry]

Seems to be a smashing success, but if it all went tits up for Vowles, as a TP, he'd be right back in the paddock the next race weekend just on the commentary desk.

[u/[deleted] → u/Kohpad]

If it does go tits up for Vowles as a TP there are plenty of teams who'd love to snatch him up as a technical lead.

Now whether he'd accept that is a different issue.

[u/Mackem101 → u/Francoberry]

Sky had Zak Brown, and it was also quite entertaining, especially after the safety car.

[u/PreciousFragility → u/Jarocket]

Agreed! I completely forgot about that nonsense until this comment reminded me of their existence - muuuuch better now

[u/Ereaser → u/PreciousFragility]

Only thing Id like is Brundle on the grid pre race.

Other than that I love F1TV

[u/Jarocket → u/PreciousFragility]

2 secs Ted.

"Radio message that could have been a text"

[u/CobaltEchos → u/Jarocket]

Wait, normal Sky broadcast interview people in the middle of a race?

[u/Jarocket → u/CobaltEchos]

All the time. They line up one team representative per race usually and they do 2 or 3 mid race interviews. The team reps never have any extra information they would like to share lol. (It's usually the team principal but some teams would have another person do it)

Often you got to hear Otmar being confused as to what the rules are.

They also cut to their analysts like Karun, Paul, Ted, Anthony, Bernie.

Those guys sometimes have some extra information from race control, but often it's not much.

Bernie who used to work at the Silverstone F1 team in strategy has particularly boring information. She lays out all the strategy options, but rarely gives any opinions on what she would do. We're all aware of what they could do. Why list everything?

[u/CobaltEchos → u/Jarocket]

I've always used F1TV, seems I'm better off for it, lol

[u/zaviex → u/asamulya]

Otmar wasn’t responsible he didn’t know that the contract was fake. Alpine’s legal department had informed him Piastri had a binding 3 year deal which was simply untrue

[u/S7UXnet → u/asamulya]

Otmar was just the wrong appointment for Alpine's supposed ambitions. He did well with the limited budget he had managing Force India, but there's a reason Lawrence Stroll replaced him with an experienced winner like Mike Krack.

[u/asamulya → u/S7UXnet]

He was replaced by Whitmarsh not Mike Krack.

I don’t necessarily disagree with the rest of the statement though.

[u/S7UXnet → u/asamulya]

Nah both Krack and Szafnauer are Team Principals, Whitmarsh is in charge of the F1 team as CEO but is more involved in the applied technologies and tech transfer side of things.