Nightmare. The appearance of the Alpine F1 team at the opening Grand Prix of Bahrain cannot be called otherwise. The seventeenth place of Esteban Ocon and the 18th place of his teammate Pierre Gasly certainly did not meet expectations. In the French stable, they respond promptly to desperate performances and the first heads have already begun to fall.
There were rumors in the paddock during the Bahrain GP that Alpine technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer had resigned. Their fears that the new single-seater would not be competitive were confirmed, but no one expected that he would find himself at the very tail end of the starting field and that he had a crushing defeat in qualifying as well.
Alpine has announced a series of organisational changes across its technical teams following the resignation of Technical Director Matt Harman and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer.#F1 # Formula 1 pic.twitter.com/n4teCn010m
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 4, 2024
On Monday, the French outfit confirmed the changes, saying it was introducing a new management structure similar to that at McLaren. Joe Burnell has become the new chief engineer, David Wheater will be in charge of aerodynamics and Ciaron Pilbeam is now technical director of car performance, with all three reporting to team principal Bruno Famino.
“We decided to make organizational changes because we are not where we want to be. Our car does not have the performance we would like,” said Famin. “It’s time to take the next step in terms of reorganization and people in the team,” he added in a statement.
The decision comes after a period of disappointing results in the Formula 1 world championship. The French outfit dropped from fourth in the Constructors’ Cup in 2022 to sixth last season, with a dismal start to 2024 and Ocon and Gasly left to hope for a miracle .
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TN.cz
