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Drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon locked out the last row of the grid for last Saturday’s Bahrain Grand Prix and finished the race a lap behind winner Max Verstappen, in 17th (Ocon) and 18th (Gasly), respectively.
It was not a surprising result as Alpine ended pre-season testing under a cloud. The A524 failed to impress with a visibly worse ride than its rivals and suggestions it is overweight.
Before the weekend, neither Gasly nor Ocon spoke enthusiastically of their chances and instead spoke about working with the team to transform its season.
Then, on Saturday morning, it was whispered that technical director Matt Harman had resigned, as had its head of aerodynamics, Dirk de Beer. Their fates were confirmed later in the day.
Their exits are the latest in a string of changes within the team’s senior ranks, beginning with Laurent Rossi last August.
Bruno Famin took over in place of the Frenchman, and promptly sacked – officially dressed up as a mutual decision – Otmar Szafnauer and Alan Permane at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Permane has since reappeared with RB, while Szafnauer has remained a familiar face in the paddock while serving his 12 months gardening leave.
At the time, Famin spoke of his plan to reinvigorate the team, though he failed to offer any substance beyond broad statements about ‘developing the project’.
To address the latest brain drain from Enstone, Famin has implemented a three-pronged technical structure similar to McLaren’s.
Joe Burnell has become technical director of engineering, David Wheater technical director of aerodynamics, and Ciaron Pilbeam technical director of performance.
“The three will work closely together and report to team principal Bruno Famin, with immediate effect,” Alpine stated in its announcement of the changes.
Famin added: “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.”
Alpine finished last year’s constructors’ championship sixth, having been fourth in 2022.
The team last won a race at the Hungarian Grand Prix a year before that, courtesy of Ocon and supported by Fernando Alonso.
At that event, then-CEO Rossi revealed the team’s 100-race plan to return to championship contention.
Since then, Rossi, Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Szafnauer, Permane, Harman, and de Beer have all exited the organisation.
