LONDON (Reuters) – Renault-owned Alpine announced a further management shake-up on Monday with three new bosses to replace technical director Matt Harman and aerodynamics chief Dirk de Beer, who left the Formula team 1 after a gloomy start to the season.
Alpine said in a statement that both had chosen to leave to pursue new challenges.
The three new technical directors are Joe Burnell for engineering, David Wheater for aerodynamics and Ciaron Pilbeam for performance.
All three will report to team principal Bruno Famin, who took over as interim manager from Otmar Szafnauer last August and now takes up the role permanently.
In the space of two weeks last summer, several managers left the Enstone factory: managing director Laurent Rossi, Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane and technical director Pat Fry.
Former team principal Davide Brivio also left the factory at the end of last year to return to MotoGP.
The team finished fourth in the overall constructors’ standings in 2022 and dropped to sixth place last season.
It began the 2024 campaign in Bahrain last Saturday with both cars on the last row of the starting grid and finished 17th and 18th respectively with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, two experienced Grand Prix winners during their career.
Alpine said Monday’s changes came “after a period of disappointing results” during which they missed several key targets.
The Renault engine is at a 20 to 30 horsepower disadvantage compared to its rivals, according to the International Automobile Federation (FIA), and its development is frozen until 2026, when new engine regulations will come into force.
“We have decided to make these organizational changes because we clearly see that we are not where we want and need to be in terms of performance and that it is time to take a new step in terms of organization and personnel” , said Mr. Famin.
“The new three-pillar structure with three technical directors, each specialized in a different area, will improve work and collaboration in our technical areas and help improve performance from the factories all the way to the circuit.”
“I have full confidence in the abilities of Joe, David and Ciaron to work closely together to bring the team the performance and improvement it needs.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, French version Vincent Daheron, Editing by Julien Prétot)
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