In the aftermath of its woeful performance in Bahrain, Alpine announces a shake-up of its technical management.

Qualifying 19th and 20th, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly did little better in the race, finishing the evening in 17th and 18th.

48 hours later the French team has introduced a series of organisational changes to its technical team with what is describes a three-pillared approach.

The team has created three specialised technical roles: Technical Director (Performance), Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Technical Director (Engineering), replacing the previous structure of a singular Technical Director.

The decision comes after a period of disappointing results, whereby the team has fallen from finishing fourth in the 2022 championship to sixth in 2023, missing several key targets in its ambitions to reach the front of the grid.

Technical Director Matt Harman and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer have chosen to leave the team and as part of the revised structure Joe Burnell is appointed Technical Director (Engineering), David Wheater as Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Ciaron Pilbeam as Technical Director (Performance).

The three will work closely together and report to Team Principal, Bruno Famin, with immediate effect.

On the power unit side, the technical team in Viry is led by Technical Director (Power Unit) Eric Meignan who continues to work on the 2026 PU project. The team can also confirm the start of the tenures of Chief Operating Officers John Woods at Enstone and Audrey Vastroux at Viry-Chatillon to continue the development of the factories behind the Formula 1 project.

"We have decided to make these organisational changes as we can clearly see that we are not where we want nor need to be in terms of performance level," said Bruno Famin, "and it is time to take another step in terms of organisation and people.

"The new three-pillared structure with three Technical Directors, each specialising in different areas, will bring better work and collaboration across our technical areas and contribute to delivering performance from the factories to the race track.

"I trust fully in the abilities of Joe, David and Ciaron to work closely together in bringing the team the performance and improvements that it needs. Finally, I would like to thank Matt and Dirk for their efforts over the last couple of years at the team and wish them the very best in the next chapter of their careers."

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 05/03/2024 7:20

"So by giving senior management 3 times more opportunities to deflect attention from their own inept performances."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by kenji, 05/03/2024 0:06

"Bring back Cyril and Daniel......"

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by SF 158, 04/03/2024 20:23

"Otmar Szafnauer can only be having a sad laugh."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 04/03/2024 18:09

"Bad move. The Alpine F1 organization don't seem to know how to handle personnel. They absolutely wasted Davide Brivio. Instead of hiring a better TD, now they have this tribunal of technical directors whom will no doubt be pulling at all three directions for resources resulting in inter-team squabbles. Enjoy the back end of the gird fellas. "

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

All change at Alpine

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page