Alpine’s fortunes in F1 in recent times have suffered a dip, if anything even failing to deliver the expected mid-table results that the team has gotten so used to over the past five seasons, as it arrived for 2024 with an overweight machine that was the slowest in the field by a long way at the season-opening Bahrain GP.
Since then the team has brought some upgrades in order to reduce weight and improve the aerodynamics of the ill-born A524, but that hasn’t stopped team principal Bruno Famin from continuing a technical and organizational reshuffle that has been ongoing at the team for the past four years, but gained momentum since last year’s Belgian GP, when it was announced that Otmar Szafnauer, who had joined from Aston Martin at the beginning of 2022, would be leaving effective immediately.
Since then there have been numerous exits and sackings from the Enstone squad, including CTO Pat Fry – who left with Szafnauer along with Sporting Director Alan Permane – and long-standing technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer, both of which got the sack this season after the team’s horrid weekend at Bahrain.
And the latest to fall for Famin’s huge reshuffle of the squad is Rob White, Operations Director that has served the team for the last 20 years in several roles, including leading the engine project at Viry-Chatillon that led to two drivers’ and constructors’ world titles in 2005 and 2006 with Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella.
The 58-year-old had been with the team since 2004, and saw it through its many identities and rebrands throughout the years, with his vast experience in several eras of the sport now being discarded.
The team appointed a new Chief Operating Officer in February, with former Lotus and McLaren road company divisions employee John Woods joining, which might explain the decision to let go of White.
“As part of the team’s wider operational restructure, we can confirm the departure of Rob White,” an Alpine spokesperson stated. “The team is thankful for Rob’s efforts during his long career both at Enstone and at Viry-Chatillon, where he led the championship-winning engine project in 2005 and 2006. We wish him the best in his future endeavours.”
The team has been going through somewhat of a turmoil in recent years, with constant reshuffling in top management and technical positions, a significant performance dip on-track and drivers that don’t necessarily work very well together – as seen in last weekend’s Monaco GP when Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon violently collided on the first lap, to which Famin stated there will be “consequences” – it remains to be seen whether new recruitments like David Sanchez, a former Ferrari engineer who had a short spell at McLaren at the beginning of the year, can have any impact in turning the ship around.
