Метка: Alpine

Alpine got Fuji podium despite starting weekend with «worst car»

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Mick Schumacher has hailed Alpine for improving a car that he felt was at its “worst” this year in order to clinch a maiden podium in the World Endurance Championship at Fuji.

During an impressive final stint, Schumacher snatched third place in the #36 Alpine A424 LMDh he shares with Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere, delivering the French manufacturer its best-ever finish since its return to the Hypercar category at the start of the year.

The result followed a tough weekend for the #36 crew, which struggled in comparison to the sister #35 car in practice and could qualify only 15th out of 18 entrants in the top class.

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Alpine hadn’t got to the bottom of the #36 car’s struggles in the run-up to the race, but Schumacher, Lapierre and Vaxiviere were able to come through the field to take an unlikely third place, finishing 42s down on the winning #6 Porsche.

After taking the chequered flag, Schumacher said he was impressed by how Alpine was able to turn around its performance in such a short span of time, but stressed that the team still had work to do ahead of the Bahrain season finale in November.

«It was tough this time,” he said. “I think we started off actually from, in my opinion, the worst car we’ve ever had this year.

“We were really fighting [the car] a lot and were not confident at all from our side. [The] #35 seem to be a bit better on that.

“In the #36, for some reason, we struggled a bit more. And could see it in the pace nonetheless compared to the #35.

“So there’s a lot of homework we still have to do. We should have to do some digging on our side if there’s something that is different.

“But on the other hand we can be really happy with our result. The #35 was also, at a time, in for the win. For it being our first year in the championship, it’s insane.»

Podium: #36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Mick Schumacher

Podium: #36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Mick Schumacher

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The result marked Schumacher’s first visit to the podium since his title-winning campaign in Formula 2 in 2020, having managed a best finish of sixth during his two-year stint in Formula 1.

The German driver showed impressive pace early in the race to propel the #36 Alpine inside the top 10 by the beginning of the second hour.

He returned behind the wheel of the car after a late safety car appearance, grabbing third place from the #12 Jota Porsche 963 of Norman Nato with less than 10 minutes remaining in the race.

The 25-year-old said he’d “had a lot of fun” on track after a very long time, but felt he’d had to “really fight” in order to secure the podium finish.

“It was good, we really, really fought for this one,” he said. “The team has made great calls in strategy all around the race and we really showed potential.

«We had some very close battles. I’m getting more confidence in how to fight in the WEC. I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be this hard, but these cars are pretty robust.

“It seems a bit like the good old days of karting. I had a lot of fun out there. It’s been a while that I was on the podium.»

Contrasting fortunes

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The #35 Alpine crewed by Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Jules Gounon was on course for third before a drive-through penalty for Milesi put the #36 car out of the running for a podium finish.

Milesi was sanctioned for a collision with the #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R late in the race, but was able to recover to seventh to secure a double points finish for Alpine.

The Frenchman took responsibility for the incident, but felt the punishment didn’t fit the crime.

“The contact with the Corvette, I couldn’t do anything: he was going left-right, left-right and I didn’t know where he was going, so I tried to go outside and he moved at the last-minute,” he said.

“It was my fault, I hit him, but we need to accept the penalty for sure. It’s a bit harsh for what happened but anyway we have to deal with it. It’s my fault, I did a mistake and it cost us the podium.”



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Gasly disqualified from Azerbaijan qualifying over fuel flow infringement

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Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has been disqualified from Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying for falling foul of the FIA’s fuel flow regulations.

After qualifying 13th in Baku, Gasly’s car failed scrutineering as FIA sensors revealed the Frenchman’s engine «exceeded the instantaneous fuel mass flow» during Q2.

Gasly was thrown out of the results soon after, which is the latest setback for Alpine after a troubled weekend.

Team-mate Esteban Ocon parked after just three laps in FP1 with MGU-H issues, leading to an engine change.

Ocon broke down again at the start of FP3 with a fuel pump failure and would end up qualifying last after tagging the wall in Q1.

Gasly is now set to join him and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who is taking an engine penalty, at the back of the grid, unless Alpine decides to use the opportunity to make further changes and start from the pitlane instead.

«The Technical Delegate reported that Car 10 exceeded the permitted 100Kg/h fuel mass flow on the final timed lap of Q2,» the stewards’ verdict read.

«The team representatives explained that they had an unexpected short duration technical fault that raised the fuel mass flow greater than expected in a transient fashion. The cause was agreed by the FIA technical staff.

«That the fuel mass flow was greater than the limit at that moment was not disputed by the competitor.

«The competitor demonstrated to the Stewards that the technical fault resulted in a slower lap time and that no performance advantage was obtained at that moment.

«Thus, they argue, this should be taken into mitigation. They also noted that the great rarity of breaches of this article demonstrates that this is not part of their strategy, and that the scale of the transient simply exceeded the margin they maintain to prevent a beach.

«The usual penalty for a breach of the technical regulations is disqualification and the Stewards note that Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code states ‘If an Automobile is found not to comply with the applicable technical regulations, it shall be no defence to claim that no performance advantage was obtained.’ In addition to the Code this has long been the position of the International Court of Appeal.

«Thus, the Stewards apply the usual penalty and disqualify the car and driver from the classification of qualifying.»

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

After what he had called the most difficult Friday of the year, Gasly said he had actually defied expectations by surviving Q1 and qualifying 13th in the first place.

«It was amazing. I thought it would be 17th and 18th, ended up in 13th so I can’t really ask for much more,» Gasly said before learning of his legality issue.

«It was an extremely tough weekend since FP1, just couldn’t get the car working anywhere. We made some changes, everything we’ve done went in the right direction so I think that’s positive. I managed to [pull off] all my laps in Q1 and Q2.

«Obviously, I wish I could be further up the grid, but with the car we had and compared to the others, I think we did the absolute best, so happy with that. We know on pure pace we should not be there.»

Speaking about his woes, Ocon said his lack of track time meant it was hard to judge where the limit of the car was, which led to him tagging the wall exiting Turn 4 and puncturing a tyre.

«Missing two sessions on a street circuit, it’s a weekend where you can’t really build the confidence, you can’t really set the car up and we’ve missed that,» he lamented.

«You are into full risk mode, and you can’t really dictate if that’s the limit or not. It wasn’t the first time I clipped the wall there, but that time luck didn’t seem to be on our side, because the tyre came off as well.»

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Gounon gets Alpine drive for Fuji WEC round

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Alpine reserve driver Jules Gounon will replace Paul-Loup Chatin at the Signatech-run team for the Fuji 6 Hours round of the World Endurance Championship.

Alpine made the announcement on Friday ahead of next week’s race, explaining that plans for Gounon’s outing had been made prior to the season with the team’s sole motive being giving the 29-year-old Frenchman more experience.

“Jules Gounon will exceptionally take the wheel from Paul-Loup Chatin to join Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg during the #6HFuji,” the team said in a statement on social media.

“Agreed upon even before the season started, this switch gives the team’s reserve driver the opportunity to continue his Hypercar training.

“Paul-Loup Chatin will naturally rejoin the No. 35 crew for the 8 Hours of Bahrain.”

Having raced in GTs since 2016, Gounon has less sportscar experience, although his only full-time season in IMSA was successful.

Taking place last year in the GTD Pro class at the wheel of a WeatherTech Racing-run Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo, the campaign yielded the championship’s runner-up spot for Gounon and his team-mate Dani Juncadella.

Furthermore, Gounon has already taken part in two WEC races with Alpine this year, having stood in for an injured Ferdinand Habsburg at Imola and Spa-Francorchamps after the Austrian fractured two vertebrae in a testing crash.

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Alpine achieved its best result of the 2024 WEC season so far last weekend at the Circuit of The Americas, courtesy of the #35 car shared by Chatin, Milesi and Habsburg finishing fifth.

Meanwhile, the sister A424 was ninth under the chequered flag, with Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere recording just their second points score of the year.

“It’s been a surprisingly positive weekend, given all the other teams tested in Austin,” Habsburg said following the Austin race. “Despite our lack of experience, there was good communication between the drivers and engineers, which led us to make some sound decisions on strategy and set-up.”

“There are a lot of positives to take from fifth place in such a tough field, but there’s still a lot of work to do if we want to win,” Chatin added. “Let’s savour the moment without forgetting about our future goals.”



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Ferrari AF Corse sneaks past Toyota for win

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In a thrilling finish to Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans six-hour race on the Circuit of The Americas, a customer AF Corse-run 499P driven by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Robert Shwartzman at Austin took the win after a battle with Toyota. All mere hours after Charles Leclerc’s Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza earlier in the day.

Shwartzman inherited the lead from the No. 7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH with 40 minutes of the race to run when Kamui Kobayashi took a drive-through penalty for a yellow-flag infringement. The Japanese driver, teamed with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, came out of the pits nine seconds behind the Ferrari but quickly made up ground. Kobayashi was still closing at the end, but ran out of time, ending up just 1.7 seconds behind at the checkered flag.

That closeness emphasized a pulse-pounding late stage of the race. Toyota appeared to have a win in the bag as the race entered its final stages, having managed to get the undercut on the yellow Ferrari, which had led the majority of the first two thirds of the Lone Star Le Mans. 

Kobayashi took the wheel for the final two hours and pulled way from Shwartzman, building up a lead of 10 seconds only to lose it as penance for ignoring yellow flags at Turn 11.

The No. 83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar

The No. 83 AF CORSE Ferrari 499P Hypercar

Photo by: JEP

Third place at COTA went to the Le Mans-winning factory Ferrari crew of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, and Antonio Fuoco. They lacked the pace of the sister works 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessasndro Pier Guidi — but the second 499P posted a rare retirement for the factory team. Driveline issues (that followed a collision with an LMGT3 runner that had damaged a wheel rim) and then a spin while Giovinazzi was lapping one of the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs conspired against the team.

Cadillac took fourth — its best result of the season — with the Ganassi-run V-Series.R shared by Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn.

Alpine followed in fifth in the A424 LMDh shared by Ferdinand Habsburg, Paul-Loup Chatin and Charles Milesi. They fought back from an early penalty after Habsburg locked up on the first lap and was penalized for the contact with Bamber at Turn 12 at the end of the long back straight.

The Signatech-run Alpine benefitted from a late penalty for Kevin Estre in the championship-leading Porsche 963 LMDh for a yellow-flag infringement, which left the Penske-run car co-driven by Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer sixth at the flag.

The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar of Earl Bamber, and Alex Lynn

The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar of Earl Bamber, and Alex Lynn

Photo by: JEP

Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre fought through the field from 14th on the grid — with Estre surviving a clash with Sebastien Buemi in the second Toyota in the race’s fifth hour. Buemi, on an outlap, made contact with the Porsche as he moved over on the back straight to protect his position. He continued to move to the left, resulting in a second contact. The Toyota sustained a rear puncture and bodywork damage, before being given a 30-second stop-go penalty for causing a collision that left the car 15th and last of the classified finishers in Hypercar.

The best of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs — the No. 20 car driven by Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde — was also hit with a late penalty of 100s for an energy in infringement. It lost a top-six position as a result, ending up in 13th at the finish.

The LMGT3 class was dominated by the American-flagged Heart of Racing Aston Martin squad. Its Vantage GT3 crewed by Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli, and Alex Riberas crossed the line with almost half a minute in hand over its nearest competitor to take the victory. Bronze-rated James, who’s also Heart of Racing’s team principal, laid the foundation for the squad’s first WEC victory since joining the series last year. The Briton converted pole position in the race lead and raced away from Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan EVO2.

The No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P failed to finish

The No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P failed to finish

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Heart of Racing’s run to victory was made easier when a clash between the Iron Lynx-run Lamborghini (which Bovy shared with Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting) and the best of the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R (the No. 81 entry driven by Tom van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, and Charlie Eastwood) took both cars from contention.

That allowed the two Manthey-run Porsche 911 GT3-Rs — running 1-2 in the class points coming into the Austin race — to come through to claim second and third positions. All in spite of receiving a Balance of Performance hit and carrying significant success balance.

Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm, and Klaus Bachler took second with 30 kg of success ballast, while the sister car of Yasser Shahin, Morris Schuring, and Richard Lietz took third with 25 kg after the Shahin received a drive-through for a track limits violation.

Vanthoor, Lotterer, and Estre still lead the championship on 125 points; Molina, Nielsen, Fuoco and de Vries and Kobayashi tied on 113 points.



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Alpine concedes definitive Le Mans engine fix unlikely this year

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Alpine appears unlikely to introduce the engine upgrade to overcome the problem that resulted in the early retirement of both its cars at the Le Mans 24 Hours this season.

The French manufacturer revealed at the Interlagos round of the World Endurance Championship in July that a valve issue put its two A424 LMDhs out at Le Mans in June before the six-hour mark. 

Now, it has stated that the new hardware to cure the problem may not be introduced before the end of the season. 

Alpine motorsport boss Bruno Famin told Motorsport.com that it was “most likely” that the revised valves would not come on stream this year. 

“It is the lead time. You need to define what you need, you need [to manufacture] the new part and then you need to validate the new part, which is quite a long process,” he explained.

Alpine is managing the engine protocols to overcome the problem in the absence of the upgrade and believes that the performance of its single-turbo 3.4-litre V6 is unaffected by the issue.

Famin’s comments at Austin were followed by the best qualifying performance by one of the A424s since the car’s WEC debut at the start of this season. 

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Charles Milesi put the #35 Alpine fourth on the grid, three places better than the marque’s previous best of seventh at Spa in May. 

That came despite the factory Signatech squad missing a collective test at the Circuit of The Americas in July, in which the other seven manufacturers competing in WEC’s Hypercar class took part. 

Explaining the absence, Famin added: «It was organised at the last minute and we had our own plans for testing and decided to stick with that plan. On top of that it was quite costly.”

Milesi believes that the resurfacing of parts of the 3.43-mile COTA track since the test at the end of July and different ambient conditions for race weekend meant that the disadvantage of its absence was reduced. 

“If you test you always have a better start to the weekend, but the conditions were quite different and the asphalt has changed a bit,” he said. 

Milesi stated that he could have put the car he shares with Ferdinand Habsburg and Paul-Loup Chatin second on the grid had he not “messed up the last sector” on his quick lap in the Hyperpole qualifying session for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

He attributed the improvement in Alpine’s qualifying form to the way the team managed the medium-compound Michelin tyre. 

“We had an issue in Free Practice 1 and missed a bit of running, but we kept improving from there,” he explained. 

“We did a very good improvement from FP3 to qualifying, and being able to put the tyre in the right window was the key for this qualifying performance.”

Milesi went on to say that he was unsure whether Alpine will be able to maintain its qualifying position in Sunday’s six-hour race at Austin. 

“I don’t know if we will have the pace to stay in the top five, but we will be trying,” he said. “Now we are in the right train and it is much easier from there than from the back of the queue.”

The #36 Alpine failed to make it into Hyperpole, Mick Schumacher ending up 13th in the A424 he shares with Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere.



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Renault F1 staff to protest 2026 Alpine engine plan at Italian GP

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Renault’s Viry-Chatillon-based staff is planning on demonstrating against Alpine’s plan to become a Mercedes customer in Formula 1’s new engine era from 2026 onwards.

The French brand is poised to end its F1 engine project, which has been a mainstay of the world championship for the past 47 years.

This led the Social and Economic Council (CSE) of Alpine employees to publish a scathing statement last week, lamenting Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo’s call as “betraying its legend and its DNA by grafting a Mercedes heart into our F1 Alpine [car]”.

The decision could be confirmed on 30 September, with engine employees calling out the Renault leadership for allegedly ignoring their attempts to engage in dialogue.

PLUS: Why the biggest change Alpine’s chiefs want to see isn’t its engines

As a consequence, Viry-Chatillon employees are ramping up their fight to save their F1 future and are planning peaceful protests this weekend as the championship convenes in Monza.

The CSE has announced that Alpine Racing collaborators will gather in the grandstands on Friday, displaying “a clear and non-aggressive message advocating for the continuation of a French engine in F1”. They will be wearing white shirts sporting the Alpine logo and the #ViryOnTrack message, as well as black armbands.

The CSE has clarified that this action will not disrupt track activity in any way.

However, the CSE is also warning that “a large majority” of Renault’s engine staff at Viry-Chatillon will go on strike simultaneously and express its discontent “in a respectful but determined atmosphere”.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Whether the strike will affect Alpine’s prospects in the Italian Grand Prix, and to what extent, is currently unclear.

Both Alpine F1 drivers were unsurprisingly asked about the conflict in their respective media sessions on Thursday in the Monza paddock and were cautious not to take sides.

Keen to focus on driving, Haas-bound Esteban Ocon commented: “It is, from what I heard, some peaceful protests. People want to talk, obviously, which is completely normal. And I hope that there will be some conversations between the parties.”

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Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly added: “I have absolutely no power or control over that situation. It’s a team and top management topic.”

“So from this point of view, I’m focusing on my race, and the best thing I can do to every employee of the team is perform the best way I can on the track. To give them the rewards of all the hard work that every single employee is doing. That’s my role in the team and that’s what I’ll focus on.”

“I understand all parties. At the end of the day, hopefully everyone will come out of it with a good option.”

A statement from Alpine read: “We are aware of some activities planned this weekend from staff of Viry.

«We understand from their communication these will be peaceful protests and will not impact team operations.

«The transformation project is still being evaluated and no decision has been taken yet by Alpine’s management.

«The dialogue, which opened since the project was presented to the Viry employee representatives in July, is important to Alpine’s management and will be pursued in the upcoming weeks.”

Additional reporting by Oleg Karpov

Watch: How Norris Dominated Zandvoort by Such a Margin — F1 2024 Dutch GP Analysis



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Briatore not the «bad guy» in ending Renault’s F1 engine project

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Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore insists that he should not be viewed as the «bad guy» in a plan by Renault to end its Formula 1 engine programme.

As part of a review by Renault CEO Luca de Meo into the future of the Alpine F1 squad, the French manufacturer is ready to abandon its works power unit programme and instead switch to Mercedes customer engines from 2026.

A formal decision on the matter is due to be made on 30 September, when staff at Renault’s Viry-Chatillon factory near Paris will be informed about their bosses’ vision for the future.

However, all indications point to Alpine making the switch to Mercedes and ending Renault’s works efforts that first began in 1977.

Last week, representatives of Renault’s engine staff at Viry issued a statement calling on de Meo to rethink plans to kill off the engine project which they say has been triggered by costs being reduced from $120 million of development to $17m per year as a supply deal.

“We do not understand what justifies killing this elite entity that is the Viry-Chatillon site and betraying its legend and its DNA by grafting a Mercedes heart into our F1 Alpine [car],” wrote the Social and Economic Council of Alpine employees.

But while Briatore is heavily involved in making changes at Alpine that he thinks are necessary to get it back towards the front of F1, he has made clear that the call on the engine was not something he instigated.

Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor, Alpine F1

Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor, Alpine F1

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Asked why he did not want to give Viry a chance to show what it could do, he said: “The problem is the evidence.

“Regarding the engine, it was decided already from the management, and for me it is fine.

“Whatever our chairman decides, fine. This was decided already, soon before I arrived in the team.”

Pushed to clarify that the engine switch was not his plan, Briatore said: “No, I am not the bad guy all the time….everything else you [can] blame me. Not this one.”

No sale, not so many people

Briatore is not afraid to make changes at Alpine that he thinks are necessary to ensure it turns around what has been a recent decline in form.

One issue that Briatore has suggested as a factor in its form is that there have been too many people involved in decisions, which has held it back.

While that factor has prompted the idea that it could mean a trimming down of the Enstone operation, Briatore says that that is not necessarily what will happen.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524, in the pit lane after a pit stop

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524, in the pit lane after a pit stop

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Asked if his comments meant he was going to cut jobs, Briatore said: “I don’t know. At Enstone I don’t know if we have too many people or not. Let me check.

“We don’t want to cut any jobs. We want to just have an efficiency.  The people who want to stay with us, they are welcome to stay. But we need everybody in the same line.

“We want to have people with the experience, the people working together as an F1 team. After that, we don’t want to fire anybody.”

Briatore has also dismissed any suggestion that the changes he is making at Enstone, and especially the cutting of ties with Renault’s engine programme, is about preparing the F1 squad to be sold.

“No, there is nothing for sale,” he said. “Everything, we buy. If we had the opportunity, we [would] buy another one team and I put a managing director in.

“Something is very clear. Luca de Meo never wants to sell the team. Question finito.”



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Alpine plans ‘quite big’ upgrade forming basis of 2025 car

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Alpine is planning a “quite big” upgrade, which will form the basis of its 2025 car, for the final stages of the Formula 1 season.

The French manufacturer has had a challenging 2024 season, with its A524 challenger starting the year in Bahrain as the slowest on the grid. 

Since then the team has undergone major infrastructure changes, which has included the departure of technical director Matt Harman to Williams and the imminent exit of team principal Bruno Famin. 

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However, there have been recruitments too – including Flavio Briatore as F1 team advisor and David Sanchez as executive technical director, while Oliver Oakes will become team boss after the summer break. 

Those changes come in parallel to the team making some solid progress on track. And, from those early days struggling at the back, it has become a more regular points scorer. The Enstone-based squad is currently eighth in the constructors’ championship. 

Now, following a hefty upgrade that arrived at the Belgian Grand Prix, the team has revealed plans for a big change coming for the end-of-season flyaways. 

Reflecting on the latest upgrades, Sanchez said: “This is a first step in the pipeline. We have another one, which should be quite big, and that should be the basis for next year. We will do more on this year’s car, definitely.” 

David Sanchez, Alpine Executive Technical Director

David Sanchez, Alpine Executive Technical Director

Photo by: Alpine

Sanchez said that after he had joined, the team had deliberately worked on a parallel programme to introduce two stages of upgrades. 

“We’ve been working on this one since day one,” he said. “The other one is an extension, using a bit more time to go further.” 

Asked when the upgrade was coming, Sanchez said: “A few races after the break.” 

While the early stage of the season saw Alpine struggling with an overweight car and big traction issues, Sanchez said now the team was mostly out of a problem-solving phase and was instead chasing pure performance gains. 

“The number one problem is for everyone finding more downforce and trying to design out some anomalies which we may see with the current car,” he said. “This [latest update] package is intended primarily for more downforce, but also a little bit more top speed.” 

Having only arrived at Alpine in May, Sanchez has not had much time to make sweeping changes to the organisation. However, he thinks that the ball is now rolling on developments that should leave it in good stead for the looming rule change from 2026. 

“From an infrastructure point of view, the team was already well advanced with its plans,” he said. “But we looked together about whether we needed to prioritize a few items more than others. 

“I think where we are now, the plan we have, if I look at ’26 and beyond, we should be in a good position. Now it’s more to get everything in the right direction with this car, the next one, and build more confidence in the team.” 



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The «circle» Ocon needs at Haas after being ignored at Alpine

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Esteban Ocon has lamented the lack of communication at the Alpine Formula 1 team and says he will do his utmost «to not miss any single detail» at Haas.

The Frenchman has spent the last four and a half seasons with the Enstone-based outfit, whose performance over that period of time stagnated then deteriorated. The team went from fourth in the 2022 constructors’ championship to its current eighth position with just 11 points scored – the squad’s worst record since the 2016 campaign, when Renault returned to F1 as a constructor.

With Alpine deciding to part ways for next season — the announcement coming in the wake of his Monaco collision with team-mate and rival Pierre Gasly, which Bruno Famin, then team principal, had warned there would be «consequences» for — Ocon will make the switch to Haas.

Ocon’s time at Alpine was marked by the outfit’s instability, especially at the management level, with the departures of 12 team leaders including four successive team principals and five technical chiefs.

He is particularly aggravated by a lack of communication within the squad, which he sees as the main cause of its current downfall.

Asked in an exclusive interview with Autosport whether he has any regrets about leaving Alpine, Ocon replies: «No, because I gave everything I had to this team.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A524

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A524

Photo by: Alpine

«Regrets to a point where, you know, it’s not only me: it’s Daniel [Ricciardo], Fernando [Alonso], Pierre [Gasly], myself. All the drivers that have come through this team, we gave feedback to the team.

«Normally there is a circle where, from the drivers to the team, you give some information. Then you have technical [feedback] on either ‘yes, you guys are right, we need to be addressing that’ or ‘no, we can’t, because of this or that’. There hasn’t been any of that.

«The following year, you find out that some of the issues that you talked about haven’t been fixed and have been going the other way.

«I try to guide this team to the best I can, [but] we haven’t always been listened to. And this is why some of the issues still remain after five years in this team.

«There are new people now, inside the team, technically. I wish them the best, and I hope that this team can obviously succeed. But that circle was key from the start and hasn’t been put in place correctly for us to make a step – enough of the step for the future.»

This negative experience will, however, be invaluable for Ocon as he seeks to make the most of his new challenge at Haas, where he will be paired with rookie Oliver Bearman.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team

Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Asked whether he will take on the team leader role in the American squad given his team-mate’s lack of experience, Ocon nuances: «I don’t know if ‘the team leader’ is the right thing to say, but I will put commitment, efforts, dedication to not miss any single detail and to share everything that I believe is important to improve – but quickly.

«You need not wait a year for things to come in because things take time to develop, things take time to be created. And if you miss something for the first six months, well, it can be a year and six months until it comes to you.

«I’ve learned that now, that circle is key. And it has to happen. And I will make sure that once I say something I get [feedback] on it and I get an explanation – so we can open a debate. Because if you talk in the air, you know, it dissipates and it doesn’t go anywhere.»

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