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Drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly qualified slowest for last Saturday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, a performance that was wholly expected within the team.
It’s been a torrid run for the Enstone squad, which saw its CEO, team principal, and team manager leave mid-season last year.
This week, its technical director and head of aerodynamics have departed the team.
In their place a three-pronged technical department has been created, dividing out mechanical, aerodynamics, and performance into their own tranches.
The success of that change will be critical to the team’s 2024 fortunes, with a high-performing development programme required if it’s to have any hope. It’s the approach adopted by McLaren last season.
“They are the example of the way we should follow,” opined Ocon.
“They’ve done what every team is dreaming of, and they’ve shown that it is possible.
“That keeps hope for everyone in the midfield to be rising up. Definitely. So if they’ve done it, it’s possible to do.”
McLaren left Bahrain last year 10th in the constructors’ championship after admitting at the launch of its 2023 car that it had missed development targets.
A series of upgrades, beginning in Azerbaijan but most notably in Austria, transformed the team into podium contenders.
To do so, it changed its development philosophy with the Baku upgrades before bolting on increased performance at the Red Bull Ring and in Singapore.
It’s not easy to replicate, with Ocon suggesting Alpine’s reserve driver, Jack Doohan, will have a pivotal part to play in that process.
“In the simulator, we already had the same feeling and just saw the weaknesses,” Ocon said when asked about Doohan’s role by Speedcafe.
“We saw the weaknesses in the simulator and where the car was when we tested from ’23 to ’24.
“And Jack is going to be having a very critical role, as we are part of as well,” he added.
“We’re going to be two days a week in the simulator, and Jack and Pierre. That’s a whole week of working in between races.
“So it’s going to be important that we keep that going and test things to put it on the car as soon as possible.”
Doohan is in his second year as reserve driver for the team, with his programme specifically designed to support Ocon and Gasly.
That sees him in the garage and engineering meetings at the track where he can (and where it’s not practical to return to the UK following practice) on top of simulator duties.
It’s also his sole focus as he’s without a racing programme this year. He does, however, have outings driving the team’s 2022-spec car at various points throughout the year.
In the short term, Alpine looks set to remain towards the back of the F1 pack. Its ability to move forward will depend entirely on its development programme and the success of transferring designs from the virtual world to the track – and doing so faster than its rivals.
Amid its internal turmoil, it’s a big ask.
