Following confirmation over the weekend that Matt Harman and Dirk de Beer would be leaving Alpine, the Enstone-based has announced a reshuffle of their technical organisation.It has been a shocking start to the 2024 F1 season for Alpine.
They had the slowest car in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and both Ocon and Gasly got lapped by Max Verstappen as they languished to P17 and P18 in Saturday’s race.
With a car that is overweight, an underpowered engine and fundamentally lacking performance, the squad faces a long season ahead.
In a similar move to the McLaren structure, Alpine has created specialised technical roles: Technical Director (Performance), Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Technical Director (Engineering). Joe Burnell will be Technical Director (Engineering), David Wheater will be Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Ciaron Pilbeam will be Technical Director (Performance).
David Wheater rejoined the team last September following a 9-year at spell at Williams. Ciaron Pilbeam has been at the team since 2017, having also had a previous spell at the squad following his departure from Red Bull Racing as race engineer for Mark Webber.
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: “We have decided to make these organisational changes as we can clearly see that we are not where we want nor need to be in terms of performance level and it is time to take another step in terms of organisation and people.
“The new three-pillared structure with three Technical Directors, each specialising in different areas, will bring better work and collaboration across our technical areas and contribute to delivering performance from the factories to the race track. I trust fully in the abilities of Joe, David and Ciaron to work closely together in bringing the team the performance and improvements that it needs.
“Finally, I would like to thank Matt and Dirk for their efforts over the last couple of years at the team and wish them the very best in the next chapter of their careers.”
