Tag: alpine

Ocon hit with grid penalty for next race after Gasly clash

Esteban Ocon has been given a five-place grid penalty for his next race for causing a collision with teammate Pierre Gasly at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix. Ocon attempted to overtake Gasly down the inside of Portier on the opening lap, but the …

Esteban Ocon has been given a five-place grid penalty for his next race for causing a collision with teammate Pierre Gasly at the start of the Monaco Grand Prix.

Ocon attempted to overtake Gasly down the inside of Portier on the opening lap, but the pair collided on the exit before entering the tunnel. With Gasly unable to go any wider due to the presence of the barrier, Ocon’s left rear wheel hit his team-mate’s front left, launching Ocon into the air and damaging his car to the extent that he had to retire despite a red flag period.

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The stewards deemed Ocon to be wholly at fault for the incident, and handed him a 10-second time penalty that is converted into a grid drop of five positions at his next race.

“It was clear to us that the collision was caused solely by the overly ambitious overtaking attempt, from too far back, by Car 31 and was therefore wholly to blame for the incident,” the stewards’ decision read.

Team principal Bruno Famin also squarely blamed Ocon for the move on French television, with his driver accepting it was his error on social media having reviewed the collision.

“Today’s incident was my fault,” Ocon said. “The gap was too small in the end and I apologize to the team on this one. Hoping for a deserved points-finish for the team today.”

Ocon had earlier suggested it was one of his only chances to make progress into the points given the difficulty overtaking in Monaco.

“You know, you have to take care, but in the same time, we are doing 120% to be trying to get inside the top 10, for me, for Pierre,” He said. “We saw it yesterday, we pushed to the limit a lot in qualifying. Mistakes happen. That’s it.

“As we usually do … We review everything for sure, we try and do better for the next one.”

The stewards opted against investigating a bigger first-lap crash between Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez that brought out the red flag, with Nico Hulkenberg also eliminated.

Gounon keeps Alpine seat for Spa as Habsburg remains sidelined

Alpine Hypercar reserve driver Jules Gounon is set to make his second FIA WEC start with the French brand at this weekend’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The Frenchman will compete in the No. 35 A424 alongside Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin, as …

Alpine Hypercar reserve driver Jules Gounon is set to make his second FIA WEC start with the French brand at this weekend’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

The Frenchman will compete in the No. 35 A424 alongside Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin, as he did in Imola, standing in for the injured Ferdinand Habsburg.

Habsburg sustained two fractured lumbar vertebrae in a testing incident with the Alpine team at Aragon back in March. While there is still no timeline defined for his return to racing, encouraging news from the team today is that his recovery is “progressing well”.

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“Jules will join us again while Ferdinand continues his recovery, which should only be a few days more,” said Philippe Sinault, Alpine Endurance team principal.

This weekend’s six-hour encounter at Spa comes after a challenging race for the team at Imola last month. There its pair of A24s finished 13th and 16th in Hypercar.

“We knew that the previous race at Imola would be difficult because of the track characteristics. This week, we are back at a more familiar venue, more like the circuits we will encounter for the rest of the season. This week’s target is clear: we want to build upon what we’ve learned from the first two races to know more about where we stand technically and operationally after the race,” Sinault continued.

“It is an important moment in our project and a veritable run-through, as it’s one of the last opportunities for us to fine-tune the package and operating systems we will have at Le Mans. We’ve done a lot of work in the run-up to this race, which should also serve to rally the team and prepare it for the long home stretch before we head to the Sarthe.”

In addition to the racing at Spa Alpine has also revealed that it will unveil the first rolling version of the Alpenglow – its hydrogen-powered concept car – at the circuit. First revealed at the 2022 Paris Motor Show, the Alpenglow now features a new design and a hydrogen-powered internal combustion engine.

The car will be presented statically on 10 May and “dynamically” on 11 May in Belgium.

Sanchez moves to Alpine after swift McLaren exit

Alpine has hired David Sanchez as its new executive technical director following his short stint at McLaren earlier this year. Sanchez – who used to work at Enstone after starting his Formula 1 career there back in 2005 – had returned to McLaren …

Alpine has hired David Sanchez as its new executive technical director following his short stint at McLaren earlier this year.

Sanchez — who used to work at Enstone after starting his Formula 1 career there back in 2005 — had returned to McLaren from Ferrari at the start of 2024 but was quickly allowed to leave as he and the team felt his role didn’t match the initial expectations. Alpine moved quickly to sign the highly rated engineer in a senior role, appointing him to oversee the three technical directors that cover the performance, engineering and aerodynamics departments.

“I’m excited by this challenge at Alpine,” Sanchez said. “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.”

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Sanchez’s arrival comes after a tough start to the season for Alpine that has left the team at the bottom of the constructors’ championship. Former technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer both left the program earlier this year.

Team principal Bruno Famin says Sanchez will be tasked with identifying how to bring performance to the car more quickly, after Alpine slipped back in the pecking order this year.

“I am delighted to welcome David back to Enstone, where he started his career back in 2005,” Famin said. “This is a key appointment to ensure we are optimizing 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.”

Alpine ‘absolutely not for sale’ – Famin

Alpine team principal Bruno Famin insists the struggling team is “absolutely not for sale” and has the backing of Renault’s management. Famin was installed as interim team principal last summer as part of an overhaul that saw Otmar Szafnauer and …

Alpine team principal Bruno Famin insists the struggling team is “absolutely not for sale” and has the backing of Renault’s management.

Famin was installed as interim team principal last summer as part of an overhaul that saw Otmar Szafnauer and Alan Permane depart, but this year has seen Alpine slip to the bottom of the constructors’ championship. Last week the team firmly denied a report that owner Renault was considering a sale, and Famin says the target for Alpine remains clear.

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“We have a real project with Alpine,” Famin told the official Formula 1 website. “We have the project to develop the Alpine brand awareness globally through motorsport and Formula 1 in particular.

“We have the full support of the top management. The team is absolutely not for sale. We will keep pushing to reach our goals.”

After Szafnauer and Permane last year, technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer both left earlier this season, and Famin admits it has been a tough spell but says changes are being made that he is confident will improve the situation quickly.

“It’s not a fun period. We are not where we want to be in terms of performance, we are not doing the project to be P15 or P16. We want to be ahead, we want to develop the performance of the car – and we want to fight for podiums and for victories as soon as possible.

“Everybody [on the board] understands it is not an easy challenge. It’s a very difficult challenge – we owe a lot of respect to our competitors. To fight ahead, we have to raise the bar, raise our level, we need to improve.

The Renault Group has had to overcome adversity before, such as with its woefully unreliable RS01 in 1977, the first turbocharged F1 car (pictured), which was eventually replaced with the race-winning RE20 in 1980. Motorsport Images

“In the history our team, previously branded Renault – at the start of the project in the 1970s, everyone was laughing at us – and we were strong in those moments.

“We want to use those difficult moments now. We know everyone has ups and downs. We are in a down – but we will use the opportunity to be stronger very soon and for sure make the necessary changes within the team to reach our goals.

“The car we have now is the result of previous management. But what is important is what we are doing now. And I’m happy with what we are doing. Of course the way is very long, and we have a lot to improve.”

Alpine WEC driver Habsburg injured in testing accident

Alpine factory driver Ferdinand Habsburg suffered two fractured vertebrae in a crash while testing the team’s A424 Hypercar at the Spanish circuit of Motorland Aragon, putting his availability for Round 2 of the FIA WEC season at Imola later this …

Alpine factory driver Ferdinand Habsburg suffered two fractured vertebrae in a crash while testing the team’s A424 Hypercar at the Spanish circuit of Motorland Aragon, putting his availability for Round 2 of the FIA WEC season at Imola later this month in doubt.

“The cause of the accident is currently under investigation. Ferdinand was taken to the hospital in Alcañiz for examinations and was discharged in the evening,” a statement from the team read. “The next day, he was repatriated to Austria, where he underwent further examinations. Ferdinand suffers from two fractured lumbar vertebrae, with no neurological impact.

“He is beginning his recovery, the duration of which has not yet been defined. It will determine its participation in the next round of the FIA WEC at Imola. Alpine gives Ferdinand its full support and wishes him the best and quickest recovery.”

Should Habsburg miss the race in Italy, Andorran-flagged Frenchman Jules Gounon would likely be called up as the replacement driver, as he was named as Alpine’s WEC reserve driver at the launch of the A424. However, at present, he is named as a Mercedes AMG driver for GT World Challenge Asia on the same weekend.

In addition to competing with Alpine in the FIA WEC, Habsburg is also due to compete in the ELMS this season with COOL Racing in LMP2. He is set to share its No. 37 ORECA with reigning ELMS LMP3 champion Alex Garcia and former Prema FIA Formula 2 driver Frederik Vesti. The opening round of the ELMS season, the 4 Hours of Barcelona, is set to take place on April 14, a week before the WEC race at Imola.

Bell leaves Alpine role to become Aston Martin executive director

Bob Bell has become the latest figure to leave Alpine during a turbulent start to the Formula 1 season, joining Aston Martin as executive director. The former Mercedes technical director was in an advisory role at Alpine, working with the team where …

Bob Bell has become the latest figure to leave Alpine during a turbulent start to the Formula 1 season, joining Aston Martin as executive director.

The former Mercedes technical director was in an advisory role at Alpine, working with the team where he made his name as technical director for Fernando Alonso’s two world championships back in 2005 and ’06. Bell will now move to rejoin Alonso at Aston Martin and becomes part of the team’s senior leadership group.

“I have been impressed by the progress Aston Martin Aramco has made in recent years,” Bell said. “The opportunity to play my part in that journey is incredibly exciting and I look forward to working with the great technical leaders at Silverstone.

“The scale and ambition of this project is highly motivating. I am a racer, and I see the hunger and determination powering this team. I look forward to playing my part with Mike [Krack, team principal] and the rest of the team.”

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Aston Martin says Bell will take on “overall responsibility for the technical, engineering and performance functions” within the team.

“I am delighted to welcome Bob Bell to Aston Martin Aramco,” Krack said. “This is a key appointment to ensure we are optimizing everything we do as a team and focusing on the right performance areas. Bob’s track record in the sport speaks for itself and his experience will help us continue to make steps forward on the exciting journey we are on.”

Although his previous role was advisory, the departure of Bell from Alpine comes just days after the team confirmed both technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer had resigned, with the Enstone-based team opting for a three-pillared technical leadership approach moving forward.

Ocon eyes competing at Le Mans with Alpine in the future

Esteban Ocon has hinted that he’d like to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans one day, following the unveiling of the new Alpine A424 hypercar alongside its new Formula 1 car earlier this week. The brand will compete in both Formula 1 and the …

Esteban Ocon has hinted that he’d like to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans one day, following the unveiling of the new Alpine A424 hypercar alongside its new Formula 1 car earlier this week.

The brand will compete in both Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship this year, being the only other brand besides Ferrari to have a full presence on both grids.

When asked whether he’d be interested in sampling Alpine’s other top-level offering, Ocon said the car looked “mega” and opened the door to participating at Le Mans should the opportunity arise in future, and hinted that he might not be the only one.

“The focus is always 2000 percent on Formula 1, but I think as soon as one F1 driver will do Le Mans while the F1 season is going, many more drivers will do so, and I’m waiting for that moment to see what happens,” he said.

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The last full time F1 driver to compete at Le Mans was Nico Hulkenberg in 2015. While competing for Force India, Hulkenberg raced at the Six Hours of Spa and Le Mans for Porsche alongside Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, winning the latter.

While no current F1 drivers will participate at Le Mans this year, there will be plenty of recent F1 talent on the grid, including 2023 Le Mans winner Antonio Giovinazzi (Ferrari), Nyck de Vries (Toyota), and Mick Schumacher who will be making his debut in the World Endurance Championship for Alpine.

“It’s fantastic for the Alpine endurance team to have Mick,” Ocon said of Schumacher joining the Alpine family. “I think he’s bringing a lot of experience, expertise, and he’s obviously a very talented driver in general and I really hope that they are going to be winning Le Mans this year.”

Ocon also mentioned his desire to get Schumacher back into F1, saying, “I’ll be supporting, cheering for them and I hope to see Mick in Formula 1 in the near future again.”

Gasly encouraged by structural changes at Alpine

Pierre Gasly has endorsed Alpine’s new team structure and says signs of progress were already seen last year despite a raft of management changes behind the scenes. Former team principal Otmar Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane, and chief …

Pierre Gasly has endorsed Alpine’s new team structure and says signs of progress were already seen last year despite a raft of management changes behind the scenes.

Former team principal Otmar Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane, and chief technical officer Pat Fry all left the team for various reasons last summer, with the latter two joining Visa Cash App RB (formerly AlphaTauri) and Williams respectively.

Racing director Davide Brivio also moved on at the end of 2023, but despite the raft of backroom changes, Gasly says the team comes into this season upbeat after a somewhat stronger run in the second half of last year under Bruno Famin and sporting director Julian Rouse.

“I must say it’s been good,” Gasly said. “I think overall last year was just a disappointing season, we didn’t perform the way we wanted, but the second part of the season felt like it was slightly more maximized.

“There were definitely some changes and a big desire and drive to improve the potential within the team, and trying to drive that sort of mentality into the race pace and from what I’m seeing I’m really happy with the changes I’ve seen so far. The atmosphere is great, spirit is good and yeah, I’m in a great place as well, I just want to get behind the wheel and get a first feel for it.”

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Teammate Esteban Ocon agreed, pointing out that the several months the team has had with its new structure stands it in good stead for this year.

“The mood in the team is good,” Ocon said. “I think you guys are going to see a lot of changes. Usually when things happen internally, when there is new roles in place, if you’re not inside the team it’s quite discreet, but when you arrive in the team now, you see how much things have changed.

“It hasn’t made the winter difficult, because that was in place since September so we knew who we would work with and the continuity of the long-term plan and improvements are beginning to bear fruit.”

Team principal Famin, who has been in the role since Szafnauer’s exit last July and intends to remain, says that getting the most out of the team’s existing staff will be key to moving Alpine forward this year.

“A good 2024 season will be first to see a good improvement in the way we work altogether at the factory, to be able to extract more from our talented people we have in Enstone and Viry,” Famin said. “If we are able to do that, we will be able to develop our car, which is a brand-new car.”

But it’s that brand-new car that the drivers say is a reason to keep expectations in check going into the new season. Alpine has adopted a new concept for its 2024 car, the A524, and Gasly stressed the need for patience.

“I feel like there’s a great atmosphere, good attitude, a good spirit in the team with a desire to improve and really move forward,” Gasly said. “It’s a great place — now we’ve got to see what we can do with the car. It’s a new concept, a pretty aggressive approach. We know already we started a new piece of paper and we’ll have to be patient with that car; there is potential but we’ll have to see where we stand in Bahrain.”

Ocon added that where the team starts is irrelevant — where it stands mid-season will be the key indicator.

“There’s going to be a lot of running to do in the beginning and we need to have a good plan of how to improve our car, because it doesn’t matter where we start exactly, it matters how we’re going to be a couple of races after,” he said.

“There could be a scenario where it’s not that easy. We’re not starting in the best shape because it’s a new concept, but we should be in a good place after.”

Alpine launches A424 Hypercar

French automotive manufacturer Alpine has unveiled the look of its A424 Hypercar at its Enstone base in the UK that will take part in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship. The new livery was shown off alongside the reveal of its latest …

French automotive manufacturer Alpine has unveiled the look of its A424 Hypercar at its Enstone base in the UK that will take part in this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship.

The new livery was shown off alongside the reveal of its latest Formula 1 car, the A524, as part of a dual launch for the brand’s top-level programs.

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This year sees Alpine, Renault’s sporting brand, return to the Hypercar class of the FIA WEC with two A424s run by the Signatech outfit. The A424 is an LMDh-spec prototype based on an LMP2 spine from ORECA, powered by a 3.4-liter turbo V6 Mecachrome engine.

Bruno Famin, vice president of Alpine Motorsport, was on hand at the conference to introduce the two cars to members of the media on-site and fans over a live stream.

“I am proud that Alpine is one of only two manufacturers [along with Ferrari -Ed.] with representative cars in both Formula 1 and at the top of endurance racing,” he said.

The A424 is set to make its global race debut at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar next month, in the opening round of the 2024 WEC season. As it stands it is the only LMDh prototype that will not race in IMSA’s GTP class this year.

Drivers Paul Loup Chatin, Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg will share the No. 35 this season. Nicolas Lappiere, Mick Schumacher and Matthieu Vaxiviere will steer the No. 36.

In addition, Jules Gounon has been named as a reserve driver for the program. The Frenchman was named recently as a 2024 Mercedes-AMG factory driver, competing mainly in GT3 competition.

Gounon’s role may turn out to be particularly important as Mick Schumacher is the reserve driver for the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team. Any duties for that role will take precedence over his commitments with Alpine in the WEC.

Alpine reveals ‘bold’ and ‘brand-new’ A524

Alpine has revealed what it describes as a “bold” and “brand-new” A524 as it looks to improve on a disappointing sixth place in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship last season. The new car was revealed alongside the Alpine A424 hypercar that …

Alpine has revealed what it describes as a “bold” and “brand-new” A524 as it looks to improve on a disappointing sixth place in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship last season.

The new car was revealed alongside the Alpine A424 hypercar that will run in the World Endurance Championship this season, as the team competes at the top level of single-seaters and sports cars. Unlike its WEC counterpart, the Formula 1 car has been stripped back in terms of livery, with extensive carbon fiber on display across one livery with blue touches and another alternate option that has pink highlights.

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Aside from the visual impact of the livery, Alpine revealed the physical car itself that is markedly different from its predecessor, with technical director Matt Harmon saying only the steering wheel is the same compared to 2023.

“The A523 didn’t quite deliver what we wanted — we needed to look at ourselves, we needed to look inwards and understand what we needed to do differently and we started that process actually originally from concept work in week 45 of 2022, but more so after the first few races of 2023,” Harmon said.

“We decided to take a very bold approach — it’s a brand-new car from front to back. I think only the steering wheel survived, so we’re really tried to look at every single area of the car to make sure that we leave no stone unturned and we give ourselves a car that can have potential through the year. We plateaued a little bit in the 523 and in this car I think we have that potential.

“We’ve taken a very aggressive approach. We’ll see where we are when we get to the Bahrain test but we will be relentlessly upgrading this car and we have an awful lot of potential to extract. We’ve not anywhere near achieved all of it just yet.”

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Team principal Bruno Famin says the new approach is a result of the frustrations of last year, when Alpine finished a distant sixth in the standings.

“We really looked inwards and criticized ourselves, then we identified challenges and we focused solutions,” Famin said. “Now we’re full of energy. By the end of 2023 we identified and we showed quite some improvements and now the challenge is to generalize that across all the team.

“When I became team principal in mid-2023, we really focused on the track team to take it another step. We saw that we were already making some interesting progress but there is still a lot of room for improvement across the whole team, and that will be my number one priority in my role as team principal in addition to being VP of Alpine Motorsports.”