2024 Alpine F1 Team

[Foryster]

Alpine's struggles will hardly attract other good drivers.

Really? Even now they are better than Sauber \ Williams. Really near Haas. RB and Aston are not far away.

Haas has always good beginning of the season because of Ferrari parts. And thats it. They cant develop the car properly. I expect Alpine to beat them this season.

RB has RBR 2023 parts. Last year RBR had great advantage. But that's it. Next season RB will be slower as RBR is now catch by Ferrari / Mclaren etc. And they do not have good history with developing the car in season.

On the other hand Alpine was not bad in recent era. They were 4/5 - developing the car good - with podiums on the record. This year they hit the bottom but sack Harman (who is responsible for this terrible car) hired some good engineers instead. They wont be worse than that.

So in my opinion, for drivers Alpine is much better option than Williams, Sauber, Haas, RB.

[diffuser]

Alpine's struggles will hardly attract other good drivers.

Really? Even now they are better than Sauber \ Williams. Really near Haas. RB and Aston are not far away.

Haas has always good beginning of the season because of Ferrari parts. And thats it. They cant develop the car properly. I expect Alpine to beat them this season.

RB has RBR 2023 parts. Last year RBR had great advantage. But that's it. Next season RB will be slower as RBR is now catch by Ferrari / Mclaren etc. And they do not have good history with developing the car in season.

On the other hand Alpine was not bad in recent era. They were 4/5 - developing the car good - with podiums on the record. This year they hit the bottom but sack Harman (who is responsible for this terrible car) hired some good engineers instead. They wont be worse than that.

So in my opinion, for drivers Alpine is much better option than Williams, Sauber, Haas, RB.

Not sure I agree with your opion on the quality of teams. Sabre will become Audi. So it maybe better in the long run. Williams is probably tied with Alpine but they have a young and very good TP. I agree with you on Haas and RBV. Haas is gonna be a bottom dweller till they setup a shop of their own. RBV is forever gonna be the RBR with less love.

[Otromundo]

It would be very good if in Canada the Gauls dedicated themselves professionally to the matter and left their egos aside. Maybe Briatore will help them with this too, he will take away a big part of it I think.

I would like them to concentrate without interference from above, to let them work on the race. Or sincerely encouraged them instead of worrying them even more. It would also be glorious if Ocon and Gasly were similar to Asterix and Obelix instead of fighting each other.

I think several ego wars have ended up ruining the team, honestly.

[Foryster]

Alpine's struggles will hardly attract other good drivers.

Really? Even now they are better than Sauber \ Williams. Really near Haas. RB and Aston are not far away.

Haas has always good beginning of the season because of Ferrari parts. And thats it. They cant develop the car properly. I expect Alpine to beat them this season.

RB has RBR 2023 parts. Last year RBR had great advantage. But that's it. Next season RB will be slower as RBR is now catch by Ferrari / Mclaren etc. And they do not have good history with developing the car in season.

On the other hand Alpine was not bad in recent era. They were 4/5 - developing the car good - with podiums on the record. This year they hit the bottom but sack Harman (who is responsible for this terrible car) hired some good engineers instead. They wont be worse than that.

So in my opinion, for drivers Alpine is much better option than Williams, Sauber, Haas, RB.

Not sure I agree with your opion on the quality of teams. Sabre will become Audi. So it maybe better in the long run. Williams is probably tied with Alpine but they have a young and very good TP. I agree with you on Haas and RBV. Haas is gonna be a bottom dweller till they setup a shop of their own. RBV is forever gonna be the RBR with less love.

Disagreement is the base of discussion I have nothing against. Sauber might become better at some point but I dont believe it will be so in 2025 or 2026. it will be their first car, first engine. And rumors are not very optimistic.

[JordanMugen]

The main goal of people from Enstone is to retain job and have a nice and peaceful surrounding with friend they used to work with for decades. According to the journalist: it's their mindset thats a blocked. Because of it they do not really listen to whoever is the manager. Managers do not have the support from factory on their goals. And the only way is to do a significant changes in organisation of the factory.

Interesting. That would explain Enstone not producing the best chassis due to not following Renault directives and processes (assuming that will lead to victory due to the excellence of Renault).

But how that does explain Viry being fully under management of Renault not producing the best engine either?

[Foryster]

The main goal of people from Enstone is to retain job and have a nice and peaceful surrounding with friend they used to work with for decades. According to the journalist: it's their mindset thats a blocked. Because of it they do not really listen to whoever is the manager. Managers do not have the support from factory on their goals. And the only way is to do a significant changes in organisation of the factory.

Interesting. That would explain Enstone not producing the best chassis due to not following Renault directives and processes (assuming that will lead to victory due to the excellence of Renault).

But how that does explain Viry being fully under management of Renault not producing the best engine either?

Well… it doesn’t

[diffuser]

The main goal of people from Enstone is to retain job and have a nice and peaceful surrounding with friend they used to work with for decades. According to the journalist: it's their mindset thats a blocked. Because of it they do not really listen to whoever is the manager. Managers do not have the support from factory on their goals. And the only way is to do a significant changes in organisation of the factory.

Interesting. That would explain Enstone not producing the best chassis due to not following Renault directives and processes (assuming that will lead to victory due to the excellence of Renault).

But how that does explain Viry being fully under management of Renault not producing the best engine either?

Well… it doesn’t

In the past one of the PU limitations was that they were always too willing to perform upgrades every 2nd year. Now if that was a money thing or and ideas thing I don't know. Early on in the current PU regs, you could see they were far behind everyone else, except Honda(who by their own admission only got involved the year before). So they've had money limits issue. Nowhere to hid in 2026 with the PU $ CAP.

[JordanMugen]

Alpine are seeking a "professional" second driver for 2025, who should that be?

The professionalism matters. We need professional drivers.

- Bruno Famin, team principal
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alpi ... /10623266/

Existing drives:
- Carlos Sainz (to overcome Sainz's apparent lack of interest, why not offer a 1+1+1+1 where Sainz has the option to renew every year for an increasingly generous salary, e.g., $15m -> $20m -> $25m -> $30m, or leave for another team if dissatisfied?)
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Valtteri Bottas
- Kevin Magnussen
- Zhou Guanyu (rumoured to have healthy sponsorship package)
- Logan Sargeant

Other options:
- Mick Schumacher (Alpine WEC driver)
- Liam Lawson (former points scoring driver)

Rookie options:
- Jack Doohan (most senior Alpine junior?)
- Victor Martins (French Alpine junior)
- Gabriele Mini (most promising Alpine junior?)
- Paul Aron (F2 leader)
- Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin reserve driver)
- Theo Pourchaire (Indycar driver)

- Other?

Thoughts?

Did Alpine miss the boat by not signing slick and professional former team driver Nico Hulkenberg? Why did Alpine dismiss Hulkenberg for Ocon, only to dismiss Ocon as well?

[yepp4]

Haha, sneaky Famin need to let go, Esteban is living rent free in his head...

- I think he will not be happy until he has a driver pairing completely chosen by him, at this stage it doesn't seem to be rational at all anymore.
- The deal with Gasly is not done. At the beginning of the year, he was to be replaced even if Ocon's discussions outside had started already and they knew he was to leave.

But:
- They are not attractive at all at the moment given the car performance/development curve
- They are not attractive at all at the moment given how the team is led

So for 2024 I don't think they are really attractive, what I think they can do is:
- Gasly has nowhere to go and will be a cheap option to for one more year as he doesn't have an exit plan, but they will wait as much as they can to put pressure to negotiate, and wait to see if there is any chance to get Sainz (probably with a huge contract and exit clauses + they need to show progress).
- Doohan given the boost in number of posts in social media in the recent weeks and the fact that he is managed by Flavio is probably the favorite option but if Martins manages to show his speed again F2 for it might change, if Doohan comes in, he will probably stay for two years with an exit performance close at the end of 1st year.

My preference would have been a Sainz/Martins pairing!

For the others:
- Magnussen: probably the end of his F1 carrer
- Sargeant: probably the end of his F1 career
- Bottas: probably the end of his F1 career or he stays at Sauber for one more year, I don't see why Alpine would take him, unless Gasly manages to leave for another team.
- Tsunoda: has been confirmed to stay at vcarb
- Zhou: his backings might save him but it would be a very bad signal for a constructor to hire someone purely on financials (might be ok for haas though)

[diffuser]

To think they had both Alonso and Piastri a little over a year ago.

Atleast 2 of the drivers mentioned, Alpine have data on them from the simulator. So if they're not taking 1 of the 2 Alpine drivers,I'd presume it's cause they suck in the simulator?

[TeamKoolGreen]

Bruno at Lemans after the 2nd engine expired

[JordanMugen]

Bruno at Lemans after the 2nd engine expired

Mechachrome is a skilled engine maker and valued partner of Renault. But they had a choice of other engines.

Alpine could have made a nice bespoke engine and bespoke LMH car as part of an effort to win at any cost, no?

It's funny how Alpine rarely uses the approach of winning at any cost? Be it in Formula 1 or WEC?

Or they could have swallowed their pride and used the Nissan engine from the GTR LM (close to the stock GTR GT3 engine, which is proven in endurance racing?), a Nismo V8 engine or even the Nismo Super GT inline-four engine? Given the (for now) sole Alpine road car uses a Nissan MR engine derivative, using a Nissan engine would not be unremarkable?

I guess the advantage of the Mechachrome engine is that it is a racing engine (however quite heavy regardless) and a stressed member, whereas I don't know if Nismo re-engineered the block, heads and head cover to make the GT-R engine a stressed member in the (front engine) GTR LM?

[Jambier]

Alpine are seeking a "professional" second driver for 2025, who should that be?

The professionalism matters. We need professional drivers.

- Bruno Famin, team principal
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alpi ... /10623266/

Existing drives:
- Carlos Sainz (to overcome Sainz's apparent lack of interest, why not offer a 1+1+1+1 where Sainz has the option to renew every year for an increasingly generous salary, e.g., $15m -> $20m -> $25m -> $30m, or leave for another team if dissatisfied?)
- Yuki Tsunoda
- Valtteri Bottas
- Kevin Magnussen
- Zhou Guanyu (rumoured to have healthy sponsorship package)
- Logan Sargeant

Other options:
- Mick Schumacher (Alpine WEC driver)
- Liam Lawson (former points scoring driver)

Rookie options:
- Jack Doohan (most senior Alpine junior?)
- Victor Martins (French Alpine junior)
- Gabriele Mini (most promising Alpine junior?)
- Paul Aron (F2 leader)
- Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin reserve driver)
- Theo Pourchaire (Indycar driver)

- Other?

Thoughts?

Did Alpine miss the boat by not signing slick and professional former team driver Nico Hulkenberg? Why did Alpine dismiss Hulkenberg for Ocon, only to dismiss Ocon as well?

I think Alpine is a better place to go than most of the people thinks.

- Doohan is probably the favorite, but I'm not really excited
- I don't think Sainz is an option
- I think Lawson is not possible, this is a shame, because I think he deserves a seat in F1 and have good potential

[CaribouBread]

Bombshell article by Johnathan Noble in Motorsport.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alpi ... /10624346/

ALPINE COULD ABANDON RENAULT ENGINES AND BECOME F1 CUSTOMER TEAM IN 2026

French manufacturer in talks with rivals about customer engine deals amid suggestions it could abandon Renault works unit
[...]
With its current Renault power unit down on performance compared to rivals, and no certainty it will get things right for the next generation turbo hybrids coming in 2026, it has questioned whether the huge investment needed to produce its own engine is essential.

It is understood that a plan is now being evaluated for Renault to potentially abandon work on its 2026 power unit and instead shift Alpine to become a customer team.

Sources have revealed that Alpine team principal Bruno Famin has been pondering the situation over recent weeks, and has held talks with rival manufacturers to see what the alternative options could be.
[...]

As well as the switch of engines meaning Alpine could secure power units that are cheaper and potentially more competitive, a move to become a customer team would also make the team potentially easier to sell in the future as the squad would not have the legacy element of its Viry-Chatillon engine department involved as part of its F1 effort anymore.

[PinkFloydPulse]

Jeeez, how bad it must be when they are pondering such an extreme measure... Ditching works team status, having everything tailored around the engine/chasis... wow wow wow O.o