‘Devastating’ Alpine exit remains a mystery as ousted chief speaks out

Former Alpine sporting director Alan Permane admitted his abrupt exit from the team last season was “devastating”, having been at Team Enstone in its various guises for 34 years.

Alpine announced his departure last summer as part of a restructure behind the scenes, but Permane soon found another role in the paddock, taking on the sporting director role at VCARB for the 2024 season.

Former Alpine sporting director admits exit was ‘devastating’

Permane had been with Team Enstone from their time as Benetton, Renault, Lotus, transitioning back to Renault and Alpine as he worked his way through the ranks at the team throughout his career.

His departure was announced at the same time as that of former team principal Otmar Szafnauer, and Permane admitted the time he had without a job was “awful” to go through.

“It was devastating, of course,“ Permane told RacingNews365 .

“It was awful. Last summer and then in the autumn, they were tough times.

“Then I was talking to a few people. And this [VCARB] was really exciting and really good. It seemed like a really good project and I’m very lucky to be here.”

When asked how long it took him to process leaving the team, it did not come immediately for Permane, and once his role with VCARB was confirmed, he was able to watch races again in the knowledge he would be working in the sport again.

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“[It took] a good couple of months, I’d say. Until I’d fully committed to here,” he responded.

“Once I came here, it was easy. Everything became an awful lot easier.

“I started watching the races again with a purpose, once that was done, which I guess was the beginning of November time, something like that.

“August was awful, September was bad. October, things were improving and then once this was done, there was no turning back.”

While unable to go into specifics, he replied when asked if Alpine had given him reasons for why he was leaving the team: “No, they didn’t. I can’t really comment on that side of things. They obviously had their reasons.

“One of the lovely things was I had a lovely amount of support from people in the paddock and that sort of thing.

“Many, many messages from inside Alpine, from everyone around, so that was nice to hear.”

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