2023 Alpine F1 Team

[lio007]

Pat Fry is rumoured to leave Alpine for Williams. If so, who is likely to lead the technical ship at Alpine?

Also, recently Alpine-Renault appear to have a severe performance deficit to their rivals McLaren-Mercedes, although this may be circuit specific. This is most curious.

https://the-race.com/formula-1/podcast- ... road-trip/

I guess realistically the earliest Alpine can challenge for a title will be 2027.

This is over 50 races past the end of the 100 race plan to win the title?!

Matt Harman is their Technical Director. Fry was CTO, so in terms of direct car development it's not gonna change that much.

[JordanMugen]

Matt Harman is their Technical Director. Fry was CTO, so in terms of direct car development it's not gonna change that much.

I see, thanks!

In other news, Alpine took P18 & P20 in Britain for zero points while main rivals McLaren scored 30 WCC points. This seems not especially ideal for the French team. McLaren therefore take a slender 13 pt margin ahead of Alpine in the WCC standings.

However, forthcoming Hungary is typically a strong Alpine track and a weak McLaren one, so we'll see if that continues (or if the McLaren continues to be fast in the hot conditions at the low speed Hungaroring -- both factors that previously caused McLaren to struggle).

[EJ22B]

Alpine/Renault current driver in loop simulator is 20 years old purchased 10 years ago from McLaren.

I guess this is one of the biggest reasons why their car suffers from mid corner understeer issues which they haven't been able to rectify.



The above video talks about teams having to dial understeer in the vehicle model because of higher latency of the sim.

[JordanMugen]

Alpine/Renault current driver in loop simulator is 20 years old purchased 10 years ago from McLaren.

Is Alpine suffering from chronic pre-budget cap lack of investment? A time when Renault could have adopted a Red Bull-like or Mercedes-like win at any cost policy, without any restriction, yet did not so?

It seems that unlike Mercedes HPP and Mercedes GP, or evenRed Bull Racing and even Honda Racing Development, Renault were not committed to win at any cost?

[JordanMugen]

Bruno Famin moved into a role in between Otmar Szafnauer and Laurent Rossi.

“Everybody will have his own role in the organisation,” he said. “Otmar has his role, I will have mine, supervising everything. That is it. I am not a fan of micromanagement.”

What Famin’s new role will also help with is being able to execute infrastructure and development improvements in the manner needed for Alpine to hit that 100-race target.

“There is F1, of course, but in Le Mans and endurance, we do not develop an endurance programme to fight in the midfield. Like in F1, our goal is to fight for a win and to fight for the titles as soon as possible.

“We have a development project in house for both Enstone and Viry,” he said. “Having somebody fully dedicated to the project will help in pushing the realisation of all that project. The idea is to go as fast as possible, to be able to make new steps, progress, and to have the team better and better.

“The difference from before is that I will be here on a daily basis, pushing for people to reach their objectives."

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/what ... /10494462/

Full steam ahead!

I think it's about 50 races to go to challenge for the title and execute the 100 race plan successfully!

[diffuser]

Matt Harman is their Technical Director. Fry was CTO, so in terms of direct car development it's not gonna change that much.

I see, thanks!

In other news, Alpine took P18 & P20 in Britain for zero points while main rivals McLaren scored 30 WCC points. This seems not especially ideal for the French team. McLaren therefore take a slender 13 pt margin ahead of Alpine in the WCC standings.

However, forthcoming Hungary is typically a strong Alpine track and a weak McLaren one, so we'll see if that continues (or if the McLaren continues to be fast in the hot conditions at the low speed Hungaroring -- both factors that previously caused McLaren to struggle).

I'm gonna say that if Gasly doesn't improve, they have a driver problem. I think that Ocon is a good #2, he needs a little beating to show him his place but he's a good #2. He's not a leader. Piastri is starting to look like the real deal, which is to bad that they screwed that up.

If Gasly doesn't improve, then to me he and Ocon are equals. I'd dump one of them and grab Hulkenberg from Haas. Can't think of anyone else, that good, that would be willing to go.

[peewon]

Alpine have always had a commitment (read as funding) issue disguised a management issue. Well now they actually do have a management issue. Rossi makes decisions which are in best interest of Rossi instead to winning at all costs. Prost said as much and the personnel decisions are indicative of that. I think their drivers are fine. Their factory is always fighting one hand tied behind their back. They will eventually run out of scapegoats and then either realize they have to be all in and invest to win in F1 or repeat the same cycle with different characters and similar results.

[JordanMugen]

If Gasly doesn't improve, then to me he and Ocon are equals. I'd dump one of them and grab Hulkenberg from Haas. Can't think of anyone else, that good, that would be willing to go.

Why not promote Victor Martins who looks like a future champion (and is French unlike Hulkenberg)?

[diffuser]

If Gasly doesn't improve, then to me he and Ocon are equals. I'd dump one of them and grab Hulkenberg from Haas. Can't think of anyone else, that good, that would be willing to go.

Why not promote Victor Martins who looks like a future champion (and is French unlike Hulkenberg)?

I didn't know about him.

[diffuser]

If Gasly doesn't improve, then to me he and Ocon are equals. I'd dump one of them and grab Hulkenberg from Haas. Can't think of anyone else, that good, that would be willing to go.

Why not promote Victor Martins who looks like a future champion (and is French unlike Hulkenberg)?

I didn't know about him. Is he a sure thing? Alpine can't afford to go Down hill.

[Jambier]

Well now they actually do have a management issue. Rossi makes decisions which are in best interest of Rossi instead to winning at all costs. Prost said as much and the personnel decisions are indicative of that. I think their drivers are fine. Their factory is always fighting one hand tied behind their back. They will eventually run out of scapegoats and then either realize they have to be all in and invest to win in F1 or repeat the same cycle with different characters and similar results.

Totally agree with that.

They have to chose, stay a midfield team and then change their communication

Or if they continue to speak about victory and title change management and put the money whatever it takes to win

[diffuser]

Well now they actually do have a management issue. Rossi makes decisions which are in best interest of Rossi instead to winning at all costs. Prost said as much and the personnel decisions are indicative of that. I think their drivers are fine. Their factory is always fighting one hand tied behind their back. They will eventually run out of scapegoats and then either realize they have to be all in and invest to win in F1 or repeat the same cycle with different characters and similar results.

Totally agree with that.

They have to chose, stay a midfield team and then change their communication

Or if they continue to speak about victory and title change management and put the money whatever it takes to win

I think that might have been right in the past, I don't think it's true anymore. They can easily reach the spending max for chassis.For 2026 they need to invest in the PU or save their money and buy one.

Think Rossi has made mistakes, the question is, has he learned from them?

[peewon]

Well now they actually do have a management issue. Rossi makes decisions which are in best interest of Rossi instead to winning at all costs. Prost said as much and the personnel decisions are indicative of that. I think their drivers are fine. Their factory is always fighting one hand tied behind their back. They will eventually run out of scapegoats and then either realize they have to be all in and invest to win in F1 or repeat the same cycle with different characters and similar results.

Totally agree with that.

They have to chose, stay a midfield team and then change their communication

Or if they continue to speak about victory and title change management and put the money whatever it takes to win

I think that might have been right in the past, I don't think it's true anymore. They can easily reach the spending max for chassis.For 2026 they need to invest in the PU or save their money and buy one.

Think Rossi has made mistakes, the question is, has he learned from them?

Even with the cost cap, the top 3 employees are still outside it. Will Alpine pursue and entice the best minds aggressively? At least they (Rossi) have started acknowledging some short comings, but then immediately went onto blaming Otmar who's only been there for two minutes, as much as I'm not a fan of him either. So it remains to be seen. They have been hiding behind previous mistakes and 100 race plans for quite a while now.

[diffuser]

Totally agree with that.

They have to chose, stay a midfield team and then change their communication

Or if they continue to speak about victory and title change management and put the money whatever it takes to win

I think that might have been right in the past, I don't think it's true anymore. They can easily reach the spending max for chassis.For 2026 they need to invest in the PU or save their money and buy one.

Think Rossi has made mistakes, the question is, has he learned from them?

Even with the cost cap, the top 3 employees are still outside it. Will Alpine pursue and entice the best minds aggressively? At least they (Rossi) have started acknowledging some short comings, but then immediately went onto blaming Otmar who's only been there for two minutes, as much as I'm not a fan of him either. So it remains to be seen. They have been hiding behind previous mistakes and 100 race plans for quite a while now.

He never mentioned Otmar by name. Just the teams debut of the season appeared amateurish and he wouldn’t wait till the end of year to make changes if it didn't improve. Nobody blamed Otmar out right. People's interpretation was that it was pointed at him but we don't really know who it was addressing.

[peewon]

I think that might have been right in the past, I don't think it's true anymore. They can easily reach the spending max for chassis.For 2026 they need to invest in the PU or save their money and buy one.

Think Rossi has made mistakes, the question is, has he learned from them?

Even with the cost cap, the top 3 employees are still outside it. Will Alpine pursue and entice the best minds aggressively? At least they (Rossi) have started acknowledging some short comings, but then immediately went onto blaming Otmar who's only been there for two minutes, as much as I'm not a fan of him either. So it remains to be seen. They have been hiding behind previous mistakes and 100 race plans for quite a while now.

He never mentioned Otmar by name. Just the teams debut of the season appeared amateurish and he wouldn’t wait till the end of year to make changes if it didn't improve. Nobody blamed Otmar out right. People's interpretation was that it was pointed at him but we don't really know who it was addressing.

The paddock rumors were strong Otmar could be on the hot seat. Otmar himself made some defensive statements after that and admitted he had no direct communication with Rossi before he made those comments which in itself is bizarre. but they got the Monaco podium and things died down. If the rest of the season doesnt show promise, Im fairly confident Otmar will be fall guy.