Alpine are optimistic that race victories can be achieved.
Alpine team principal Bruno Famin is optimistic that past mistakes can be corrected. Despite their current downturn in form, the Frenchman believes that climbing the field is not beyond reach for Alpine’s personnel. The 62-year-old believes this year’s A524 is the product of previous management and, therefore, does not reflect the team’s potential. Still, it cannot be said that Esteban Ocon or Pierre Gasly will be thrilled with the trajectory at Enstone.
Initially, Famin was appointed as an interim team principal at the French outfit. He was brought in to replace Otmar Szafnauer, who was replaced during the 2023 Belgian GP weekend. In many ways, his dismissal resulted from a change in attitude from upper management.
Despite scoring a podium in Monaco and fighting for consistent points last season, Alpine found themselves out-developed by rivals. Most notably, Aston Martin and then McLaren went from midfield runners to legitimate contenders at the very front.
This seemed to change the calculations at Enstone and Viry, with their “100-race plan” seemingly undermined. However, Szafnauer was still adamant that several years of improvements were necessary to achieve a significant overhaul.
Ironically, less than a year after his departure, there is almost zero chance that Alpine can fight for race victories until (at the very earliest) the 2026 regulation changes.
Alpine still aiming high
Still, team principal Bruno Famin is adamant that current performance does not define future potential:
“We have the full support of the top management,” he told f1.com.
“The team is absolutely not for sale. We will keep pushing to reach our goals
“It’s not a fun period. We are not where we want to be in terms of performance, we are not doing the project to be P15 or P16.
“We want to be ahead, we want to develop the performance of the car – and we want to fight for podiums and for victories as soon as possible.”
As mentioned in the introduction, Alpine’s performance has been difficult for its drivers to accept. On the one hand, Esteban Ocon has spent five years with the team – only to see a significant regression. Understandably, he is linked to a move away from Enstone.
On the other side of the garage, Pierre Gasly was hoping that Alpine could be his ticket to establishing himself in a big team. After all, he signed the contract to join the team at the end of 2022 when they were 4th in the Championship.
Of course, it cannot be said Alpine is destined to finish the 2024 season in last place. Their upgrades in China, though far from revolutionary, have shown promising signs. Broadly speaking, it is reasonable to expect Famin’s team to out-develop the likes of Sauber and Williams, for example.
However, after so many years of overpromising and underdelivering, time will tell if Alpine can live up to its own ambitions.
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