2024 F1 season previews: Will Alpine be stuck in the middle again?

It would be no exaggeration to say that the 2023 F1 season was a turbulent one for Alpine.

The origins of the upheaval date back to the second half of the 2022 season. Prior to that season’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel announced that he would retire at the end of the season, ending weeks if not months of speculation. This opens up a spot at Aston Martin for the 2023 season alongside Lance Stroll.

Speculation over who would slip into the seat reached a fever pitch when Fernando Alonso, who has yet to re-sign with Alpine for the 2023 season, was spotted getting into an Aston Martin motorhome in the paddock.

Alonso eventually announced his move to Aston Martin, leaving a position open at Alpine alongside Esteban Ocon. Alpine initially believed that Oscar Piastri would be the team’s reserve driver for 2022, but that he would also serve as McLaren’s reserve driver following an agreement between the two teams. Alpine announced on August 2, 2022 that Piastri will become the team’s second driver in 2023.

Just hours later, Piastri’s denials were prompted on social media.

The issue will ultimately be decided by the FIA’s Contract Certification Committee, which will determine whether Piastri is in fact contracted to drive for Alpine in 2023, or is free to drive for another team, in this case McLaren. is what happened. The CRB ultimately ruled against Alpine and Piastri’s move to McLaren was confirmed shortly thereafter, subject to the Woking-based team reaching a release agreement with Daniel Ricciardo.

This left the team looking for a second driver once again, and the wheel of fortune fell on Pierre Gasly, who was announced as Alonso’s replacement ahead of the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix. The driver pairing was Ocon and Gasly, who grew up in the same region of France and started karting together.

Both drivers saw this pairing as a chance to rekindle their friendship, which had become strained over the years due to the competition the sport created.

Guthrie I remembered The past they shared on a 2018 episode of beyond the grid Podcast: “It’s really amazing just to see how we’ve grown and where we are now. So I think we really respect each other as drivers, but unfortunately, before… There’s no friendlier feeling than that.”

Still, Guthrie is hopeful the two can renew their great relationship. “This is an opportunity for both of us to get back to the kind of relationship we had in the past,” Guthrie said. interview and F1.com After the move was announced. “What are the odds that two six-year-old kids who live in Normandy, France, and live 20 minutes away from each other, will end up being teammates on a French team in 20 years? That’s unbelievable. I think that’s a very special story.”

After the announcement, Ocon also took a conciliatory attitude. “Now we’re teammates on a team from Normandy, and we’re both from Normandy, so I think we can write a great story together.”

But change is just beginning. The team endured a disappointing start to his 2023 season, and more on that later, but frustration began to boil over. Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi has aired his frustrations ahead of the Miami Grand Prix.

“It’s unfortunate, it’s actually the worst,” he said. “The year started with a flawed performance and a flawed delivery. It is clear that our ranking is not commensurate with the resources we have spent and we are quite far from our final goal for the year, in fact very It’s far away.”

The harsh evaluation of Rossi is not over yet.

“I didn’t like the first Grand Prix because, I’m sorry to say this, but there was a lot of amateurishness, which led to a result that wasn’t right. It was mediocre and it was terrible,” said Rossi. said. “And the last race in Baku was very similar to the race in Bahrain. That is unacceptable.”

Ultimately, the ax fell on many important figures in Alpine. Surprisingly, Rossi was the first to feel the pinch as Philip Krief took over as CEO of Alpine. Rossi was moved to another position within Alpine, with responsibility for “special projects”. Bruno Famin has been moved to the vice president role at Alpine, and it was suggested at the time that he would take charge of the F1 team.

More changes followed. Prior to the Belgian Grand Prix, it was announced that team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alain Permane had been dismissed and would be leaving the team after the Belgian Grand Prix. Fahmin took over the role of team principal on an interim basis.

Oh, and while all this is happening, the team has added a slew of new additions, including Ryan Reynolds and co-investor Rob McElhenney, and a partner group that includes Maximum Effort Investments, also led by actor Michael B. Jordan. Added shareholders. . Later this year, more famous owners joined the ownership group, including golfer Rory McIlroy and two football players with big games on the way, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.

Like I said… there was a lot of it.

How did things unfold on the track? Alpine was in a bit of a tailspin throughout the 2023 F1 season. They reportedly had trouble getting enough power out of his A523. On average, it costs about 0.5 seconds per lap.. They managed to pick up enough points for Williams to not threaten sixth place in the constructors’ championship, but they were never a serious threat to finish at the top. At the end of the Canadian Grand Prix, Alpine was in fifth place, more than 100 points behind Aston Martin, but McLaren quickly followed them, and Alpine ended up in sixth place.

2023 Highlights: Monaco Grand Prix

“Esti Besti is on the podium, baby!”

24 Hours of Le Mans. Indianapolis 500, Monaco Grand Prix. These three of his events make up the “Triple Crown” of motorsport and represent his three most famous auto races in the world.

For F1, the Monaco Grand Prix remains the crown jewel of the sport. To succeed on the streets of Monte Carlo, you’ll need to master the hairpin turns and tight circuits of the sport’s biggest stages. For all F1 drivers and teams, Monaco is where they want to win.

So it was kind of a shock, despite the early season struggles. Last season’s Monaco Grand Prix ended on the podium with Max Verstappen on top (which was no surprise), followed by Alonso and, yes, Ocon.

But Ocon wasn’t the only Alpine driver to score points in Monaco. Gasly, on the other hand, helped his team score 21 points that weekend, placing them in seventh place.

It was their best weekend of the season.

2023 Lowlight: Australian Grand Prix

Readers, do you remember last season’s Australian Grand Prix? I certainly think so.

But Alpine would rather forget that weekend.

Alpine started the weekend with a slight advantage as Gasly and Ocon made it to Q2. Although Ocon failed to advance to Q3, he qualified in 11th place. As for Gasly, he advanced to Q3 and started the Grand Prix in 9th place, ahead of Ocon.

A double points finish was definitely in sight.

With just a few laps remaining in the Grand Prix, the finish seemed certain. Gasly and Ocon were both running inside the top 10 when Kevin Magnussen hit the wall at Turn 2 on lap 55, bringing out the red flag.

The race restarted with Gasly in fifth and Ocon in 10th. However, confusion quickly arose upon the restart. Carlos Sainz Jr. made contact with Alonso on the restart, causing a chain reaction that caused Gasly and Ocon to collide on the right side of the track, eliminating both Alpine drivers from the Grand Prix.

Both drivers were called by race officials after the Grand Prix to discuss the incident, but race judges determined it was a “first-lap race incident”.

But it was a bitter pill for the team to swallow.

“I’m very disappointed with the result of today’s race. We were in fifth place, chasing Carlos most of the time. [Sainz] I finished fourth and showed really good race pace,” Gasly said. after the race. “It’s bittersweet for us to end the game without getting anything when we were so close to scoring 10 more points. “Right now we have to focus on the positives, And that’s how we managed the race and how we were able to win the battle against our rivals in front of us. I’m glad that both Esteban and I are safe after the incident. As a team I will continue to concentrate on the next race.”

Photo credit: James Gasperotti/Ciancaphoto Studio/Getty Images

Outlook for 2024

First of all.

Alpine should find more power in the A524, which will be unveiled later today.

Matt Herman, the team’s technical director, said in a recent interview. motorsport The A524 will be redesigned “from front to back.” “I think that’s why we needed to free up some real estate again for next year’s car. That’s why this car is completely new from front to back.” Said Herman. “So I think you’ll see that up and down the grid because the car needs to last for a few years while we look for the future.”

Regarding A523’s struggles in 2023, Herrmann pointed out that it was difficult to find the best spot for the car each week, and changing conditions and different circuit characteristics narrowed the margin of error for the car.

“I think its weakness is that it has to operate in a very narrow window,” he says. Said. “And if you go to a circuit with certain road conditions, high levels of ride quality, etc., you can end up in more difficult situations and the driver won’t be able to enjoy the car.

“One of the weaknesses at the moment is that it’s very narrow. So we have to widen it a little bit. We thought we had widened it enough going into the season, but obviously that wasn’t the case. That’s what we’re working on.”

The fact that Alpine managed to finish 6th is almost impressive considering how much time the A523 was losing on each lap. They have an experienced driver combination and if they can squeeze more power and better lap times out of the A524 than its predecessor, they will certainly be able to improve their standings next season.

But if that doesn’t happen, we may find ourselves caught in the middle again this year.

Person under the most pressure to perform in 2024: Bruno Famin

There is no lack of pressure for Alpine in 2024. Ocon and Gasly are arguably the two drivers in the toughest situation, as both have just one year left on their current contracts and are under pressure to maintain their contracts. their seats.

You could argue that Harman and the technical team are under the most pressure, given the need to squeeze every second possible out of the A524.

But in the end, the blame remains with Bruno Famin. He assumed the role of team principal after Szafnauer was temporarily relieved midway through the season, and will continue to do so.