BWT Alpine F1 Team officially announced that David Sanchez will be joining the French based team as Executive Technical Director.
He will be responsible of the Performance, Engineering, and Aerodynamic areas of the team.
The Frenchman started his motorsport career as a junior aerodynamicist at Renault F1 Team back in 2005 and has only moved up ever since.
He worked in various aerodynamic roles through his time at McLaren and Ferrari from 2007 to 2020, before leading the design and development of the 2022 Ferrari car, which allowed Ferrari to clinch the runners-up spot in the Constructors’ Championship, and it was backed up in the Drivers’ Championship thanks to Charles Leclerc.
The Frenchman left Ferrari in early 2023 and joined McLaren in January. However, he departed the Woking-based squad after just 3 months as he felt he was not given enough authority in the team in his role as technical director of car concept and performance.
Alpine struggles this season is no secret. With the experience of David Sanchez, it could bring the team back into the fight for points as they try to regain respectability considering their resources.
Bruno Famin
“I am delighted to welcome David back to Enstone, where he started his career back in 2005. This is a key appointment to ensure we are optimising everything we do as a team and focusing on the right performance areas. It is clear that the performance of the car and development path has not moved at a sufficient pace relative to our ambitions as a team. We look forward to welcoming David and working hard together to achieve the ultimate success.”
David Sanchez
“I’m excited by this challenge at Alpine. I’m looking forward to working at Enstone again, the place where I started my Formula 1 career. This team has always had so many fantastic people involved and there is clearly so much potential to unlock. We have a big task ahead to improve on-track performance and it is this type of challenge that motivates me. I’m very much ready to begin and look forward to working with the Enstone-Viry technical teams again with the sole aim of bringing regular success back to this great team.”