Alpine have had a shocker of a start to the 2024 Formula One season and as recently as round eight in Monaco the team had scored just two points. The race in the principality saw the team’s boss Bruno Famin have a public meltdown following the collision between his two drivers on lap one, threatening there would be “consequences” for Esteban Ocon who was held to be a fault.
The F1 word speculated this would mean the French driver would be benched for the next race weekend, yet in the meantime Ocon announced he was leaving Alpine at the end of this season. To steady the ship, Allie have since offered Pierre Gasly an extension to his current deal which should see him at the team until the end of 2026.
The Enstone based squad started life in the 1970’s as a British minnow named Toleman, whose claim to fame was the fact they gave Ayrtn Senna his F1 debut. They were bought by Italian organisation Benetton in 1985 going on to win two world titles with Michael Schumacher as their driver and a constructors’ championship in the second of these two years.
Alpine move for Sainz serious
The team was acquired by Renault for the 2000 F1 season and having recruited Fernando Alonso claimed both driver and team championships in 2005/6. Renault then sold the team to Genii Capital before buying it back to compete as Renault again in 2016. In 2021 the French auto manufacturer decided to rebrand their team as Alpine in an effort to promote the quirky small sports road car.
Yet despite being a works F1 outfit, the Enstone squad has never repeated its former glory days and once again is suffering from a lack of investment able to even spend up to the cost cap as revealed by former team boss Otmar Szafnaeur.
Having shed some weight from their 2024 car, Alpine’s results have improved over the last three Grand Prix races scoring five times out of six, with just Esteban Ocon failing to score last time out in Austria.
The team’s improvement in form appears to have coincided with the recruitment of former title winning boss Flavio Briatore, who was banned from the sport following his involvement in ‘crashgate’ in Singapore 2008. The Italian immediately set about attempting to entice Carlos Sainz to join Alpine for next season which delayed the impending announcement the Spaniard was set to sign for the much improving Williams team.
Norris faces most important decision yet
Ecclestone behind Briatore return
Now Bernie Ecclestone is claiming responsibility for this move to bolster Alpine’s fortunes stating to Blick he spoke to the head honcho at the Renault corporation recently
“I spoke to Renault boss Luca de Meo on the phone for a long time. He was desperate. Then the word Briatore came up. We quickly agreed that in such a confusing situation only a doer, a bandit among angels, could help. And there are enough saints in the grand prix circus,” claimed Ecclestone.
The ex-F1 supremo believes Flavio has the right skills to turn around the struggling fortunes of the Enstone team. “Flavio’s great strength has always been: ‘Keep the discussions short, do things and think big’,” he said. “You don’t need friends in Formula 1, you just need success.”
Whilst staff have been leaving Alpine in significant numbers, there have been some notable recent recruits to the team which should improve the team’s performance. David Sanchez, formerly of Ferrari has joined as executive technical director. Then this week the team announced Michael Broadhurst and Vin Dhanani from Red Bull Racing will join the team as chief aerodynamicist and head of vehicle performance respectively and Jacopo Fantoni from Ferrari will take the deputy chief engineer position.
Renault to stop building F1 powertrains
Briatore is a controversial character and no sooner than his role as a consultant been announced, rumours began that Alpine would be ditching the Renault power unit and was looking for a customer deal with Mercedes. This would leave Renault bailing out of F1 as a power unit supplier for the first time since they joined back in the 1980’s.
Since the glory days where Renault and Red Bull won four consecutive drivers’ and team titles between 2010-2013, Renault has struggled in the V6 Turbo hybrid era. As the other power unit manufacturers converged on the power the Mercedes unit was delivering, Renault remained some 22 kilowatts down on power as the engine freeze kicked in for 2022.
The power unit division based in Viry France is a huge cost to the team which struggles for budget, so it would appear sensible for them simply close down this function and concentrate their funds elsewhere.
Of course Renault has signed up with the FIA to deliver new 2026 specification F1 powertrains and the penalties for breaching this are as yet unknown. Speculation suggests Alpine is angling for Mercedes supply for 2026.
Sainz delay and Sargeant benched for Silverstone
Sainz refuses to be pressurised
Of course all this provides some hope there is a way out the current hole in which Alpine find themselves, but such huge disruption and reconstruction will take time which is something Carlos Sainz does not have in abundance.
The Spaniard is in his prime time as an F1 driver and had Hamilton decided to remain with Mercedes his future with Ferrari had been secure for some years. Now with three teams chasing his signature in Sauber/Audi, Williams and Alpine, Carlos said at the recent Austrian Grand Prix: “As much as maybe there are some teams that are nervous or pressuring me … I’m going to be honest and straightforward with the teams, but it’s such an important decision for me also that I’m going to take all the time that I need to take it.”
“If there’s teams that cannot wait or are a bit impatient, I cannot do anything about it,” Sainz said frankly. “It’s going to be my future, my decision, and I’m going to try and be as honest as possible with everyone and give myself the time that I need.”
Of course with Sergio Perez now in free fall since signing his new contract at Red Bull, there is yet the hope for Carlos that a slot for him alongside Max Verstappen will open up when Horner et al. realise its time to say goodbye to their Mexican driver.
Ricciardo early exit with a silver lining
Daniel Ricciardo gave his Formula One career a major boost with a commendable performance at the Austrian Grand Prix. Finishing ninth, Ricciardo scored points for the Red Bull junior team (RB) for only the third time this season, a timely achievement amidst swirling rumours about his future with the team.
Last Thursday, F1TV presenter Will Buxton speculated that the Austrian Grand Prix could be Ricciardo’s last race with Red Bull. Buxton noted that Red Bull managing director Helmut Marko has shown interest in giving reserve driver Liam Lawson a chance to race. Despite these uncertainties, Ricciardo’s strong performance at Spielberg staved off a mid-season driver change for now. He outqualified his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, reducing the gap in qualifying to 8-3, and finished the race five positions ahead… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
