Strong earthquake in the house Alpine: after the performance, somewhat forgettable, in the first race of the season in Bahrain, new news arrives on the French team which is preparing to say goodbye to both Matt Harman and Dirk de Beer. Based on what is said, in fact, it seems that the technical director (present in the figure of Harman) and the responsible for aerodynamics (de Beer) have announced theirs resignation from Alpine. A choice that, obviously, significantly upsets the plans (and above all the organization chart) of the French team, dealing with a car that did not give much hope throughout the weekend in Bahrain.
Alpine, the technical director and the head of aerodynamics resign
Based on what is reported by FormulaPassion, it seems that the resignations of Harman and de Beer at Alpine arrived a few weeks ago, before the start of the season. Both engineers, however, are currently at the wall of the French stable and they will stay there until the expiration of their respective contracts, which should take place in the month of April. The choice has certainly shocked the members of Alpine, who are preparing to experience a season full of many question marks. In fact, in qualifying Or with e gasly they did not go beyond the penultimate and last position, and then position themselves in seventeenth e eighteenth square during the race.
At Alpine, with these two new resignations, we continue to look for stability that has been missing for quite some time. The exits of Permane and Szafnauer last season (announced during the Belgian GP), represented only the starting point of a very complicated situation to be managed.
Ocon: “We need to stay focused”
Esteban also commented on the very complex situation at Alpine at the end of the Bahrain GP Or with"The race in Bahrain it was the continuation of what we saw in qualifying. We had a clean race and, at least, we collected important data that can be useful for Jeddah. Now yesWe need to focus and understand what we can improve. We have to stay focused, positive and going in the right direction".
Gasly: “There are many areas to improve”
Pierre Gasly's thoughts are along the same lines: “At the end, it was kind of what we expected. We did everything that, honestly, I think we could do considering what we had on our hands. There are so many areas to improve on. Let's see what happens next week: we hope to show some progress, but we have several areas to improve and continue to grow".
The new organizational chart
Alpine moves to a new internal organization based on three technical pillars:
- Technical Director of Performance (Ciaron Pilbeam, promoted from chief of track engineers)
- Technical Director of Aerodynamics (David Wheater, promoted by chief aerodynamicist)
- Technical Director of Engineering (Joe Burnell)
The three will report to Team Principal Bruno Famin.
