Alpine is the sports brand of a major manufacturer such as Renault. The fall of the French brand in F1 is there for all to see. The A524 is a wrong single-seater and the two drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, were relegated to the last row in qualifying in Bahrain and in fact remained so in the race.
The coexistence of the French soul (the power units are made in Viry Chatillon, just outside Paris) with the English one (the chassis and aerodynamics area are developed in Enstone) is always very difficult, even if in the past it had worked with a charismatic leader like Flavio Briatore who had brought home two world championships in 2004 and 2005 with Fernando Alonso.
At the beginning of the millennium, Renault was a deeply rooted team with a strong, well-trained staff and state-of-the-art facilities. Stability was one of the key points to keep the team at the top, which is not the case today.
The management of the Renault Group is in the hands of another Italian, Luca De Meo, who in his previous professional adventures has been able to perform authentic “miracles” in the difficult world of the automotive industry. The Milanese manager led the Scenic E-Tech to be voted the Car of the Year 2024, a sign that certain strategies bring results.
In racing the music is different and the balance is very negative. Red Bull Racing dominates the Grands Prix with a monolithic structure that is substantially the same since it was founded, even if it is now under bombardment by those who want to blow up this granite unit.
Alpine, on the other hand, is a real… sea port where every six months there is a change at the top or, at least, in the technical staff. It should not be surprising, therefore, to see the team fall to the bottom of the grid inexorably.
Bruno Famin was called to run Alpine Motorsport after the latest purge which was made official in the middle of the race weekend in the British GP at Silverstone. Out was the team principal, Otmar Szafnauer, out Alan Permane, the sporting director, the “grey” soul of Enstone active for 34 years (now at Racing Bulls), and the technical director Pat Fry was also gone, having found a home at Williams.
Otmar Szafnauer
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Alan Permane, Racing Director Racin Bulls
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Pat Fry, Williams Chief Technical Officer
Photo credit: Williams
The French manager had also assumed the role of team principal on an interim basis, entrusting the technical management to Matt Harman. The English ex-Mercedes, who arrived in Enstone in 2019, lasted a round of waltzes again: he resigned together with the aerodynamics manager, Dirk De Beer. The two took on the blame for a heavy car (reinforcements were needed to pass the crash tests), with little traction and downforce and, therefore, not very competitive. And, the icing on the cake, Bob Bell, a man with great management experience, also preferred a change of scenery, choosing to go to Aston Martin to put the new, ultra-modern factory in order.
Matt Harman, former Alpine technical director
Photo by: Alpine
Famin decided to follow a concept that Sergio Marchionne had adopted when he was president of Ferrari, promoting internal forces, to adopt an organizational structure similar to that of McLaren by trusting a triad: Joe Burnell (engineering), David Wheater (aerodynamics) and Ciaron Pilbeam (performance).
It is clear that we cannot dig to the bottom of the bin and, as soon as possible, it will be necessary to go to the market to rebuild a staff that is capable of getting back on top, bringing Alpine back to where it deserves to be the sporting expression of a great manufacturer, unless president De Meo is considering leaving F1 and is ready to remain only as an engine engineer, to put Enstone on the market, taking advantage of the moment of enormous popularity of the championship which has increased the value of the teams and the possibility of monetizing even a “failure”.
Bruno Famin, Team Principal Alpine F1 Team
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Bruno Famin has the task of draining the fall and will have to try to rebuild the fabric of a team. For the motorsport area he did well by bringing Eric Meignan to Viry Chatillon from Maranello: the transalpine engineer is working on the 2026 power unit and is creating a very enthusiastic and motivated working group. Arrivals are expected for the chassis…
“We will have several people arriving – admitted Famin -. They are not big names, but very interesting profiles. I want to rebuild the team. We have talented people inside, but we need to bring a breath of fresh air with new figures who know different processes from ours.”
Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524
Photo by: Erik Junius
“It would be nice to attract leading figures, but we also know that it takes a long time to integrate them into the team due to the long gardening period. It could take a year or more, so for now we use the staff we have while waiting for reinforcements…”.
In reality, Bruno will know that a top-level technician like Simone Resta has returned to Maranello from Haas. At Ferrari, the engineer from Imola doesn't seem to be part of F1's plans, so Famin could find a person at the Gestion Sportiva who had built some important cars…
#Alpine #sold #team #rebuilt
