‘Shock’ start to F1 season showed need for Alpine shakeup - Famin

Alpine team principal Bruno Famin says the shock of being on the last row of the Formula 1 grid at the season-opening race cemented a decision to make changes within the team.

Technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer were both announced as leaving the team prior to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Harman having handed in his notice before the pre-season test. Despite that suggesting a new technical structure had already been committed to, Famin (pictured above) says the early results reinforced the changes.

“That’s right that it was a shock, because we were really expecting a difficult start of the season -- we knew this, and this is what we said during the launch of our car,” Famin said. “But to be on the last row [in Bahrain] was a shock, to be honest. It just confirmed the need of changing in our team, and we made the change.

“The main issues are quite clear. I think we have to remember also that we were at the first race of the season, which is very long. The car is totally new. We have developments coming. We will work hard in developing that car. But of course, understanding what the problems are is key to solving [them]. We have a quite clear idea of what are the problems and we are really working hard.”

More Formula 1

Brown says Horner F1 return would be a positive, more A-B teams not so much

What the revised Formula 1 regulations are predicted to achieve in Miami

Piastri says Verstappen departure would be ‘not a great look’ but Norris thinks he’ll stay

The new structure Alpine has adopted includes three technical directors across different departments, and Famin says improvements in the trackside performance of the team in 2023 give him confidence in the changes made back at base.

“We really want to bring to the factories what we have done on the track side by the end of last season," he explained. "I mean changing the mindset, unleashing the creativity, and having three technical directors makes the organization much more horizontal, much less vertical.

“More activity, more agility, and really the motto is really to develop our people. We have very talented people and we want them to bring as much as they can to the project, to the team, to the company.”

Famin is hopeful the team's revised structure can push the Alpine A524 up the grid while laying the groundwork for more progress over the long term. Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Famin believes the changes can have a shorter-term impact rather than only be focused on improving Alpine’s form when new regulations are introduced in 2026.

“Both, because we have a new car with A524. There is potential in this car," he insisted. "We have something coming for sure, but we also need to change our way of developing the car, maybe [of] racing the car as well. We need to change our general approach; everything we will learn on A524 will be very helpful for developing the A526 for sure.”