“There is potential inAlpine »: Bruno Famin confident despite the many problems

Bruno Famin, director ofAlpine, announced it during the presentation of the A524 and it was confirmed in Bahrain. As expected, the French team is suffering at the start of the 2024 season. Its news car does not meet expectationsEsteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, only 17th and 18th for the first race of the season. Worse still, the two Grand Prix winners were on the back row during qualifying. First assessment: the A524 is probably the last force on the plateau.

“It was a shock because we really expected a difficult start to the season, we knew it, and that's what we said at the launch of our car. But being last in line in qualifying was a shock, to be honest. And this just confirmed the need for change in our team, and we made this change”, declares Bruno Famin, after the recent departures of Matt Harman, technical director, and Dirk de Beer, head of aerodynamicsand to Bob Bell heading to Aston Martin.

Despite the problems, Bruno Famin finds positives

At the press conference as well as in the paddocks, the main team appears confident despite the very poor start to the season for its troops, in part, because departures led to internal restructuring. Three technical positions have been created to replace Matt Harman: a technical director of performance (Ciaron Pilbeam), a technical director in charge of aerodynamics (David Wheater), and a technical director of engineering (Joe Burnell). A solution operating on a trinomial, as already done McLaren.

🔚🇫🇷 For three years and the renaming of Renault en Alpine, the French team suffers from great managerial instability, with an endless wave of departures.

Chronology of a team in distress. ⤵️ #F1https://t.co/1iZuqv4XIr

- AUTOhebdo (@autohebdo) March 4, 2024

“We really want to bring to the factories what we did on the track at the end of last season. I mean: changing mentalities, releasing creativity and having three technical directors makes the organization much more horizontal, much less vertical, justifies Bruno Famin. More activity, more agility, and the motto is really to develop our people. We have very talented people and we want them to bring as much as possible to the project, to the team, to the company. »

The A524 “has potential”

In addition to the good state of mind wanting to be influenced internally, the director ofAlpine F1 plans to save the furniture this season thanks to the single-seater. This same car responsible for the terrible situation in which the team finds itself and which has made very little progress since last year.

“The main issues are quite clear and we understand them. The car is completely new. We have developments coming. We will work hard to develop this car. But of course, understanding what the problems are is key to solving them. And we have a very clear idea of ​​the problems and we work really hard”, assures Bruno Famin.

But what is it more concretely? « One of the biggest complaints from drivers, and it's no secret because we hear it on the radio, is the lack of grip, recalls the former engineer. That's why in Bahrain, where we really needed very good traction in the slow corners, it was particularly difficult. »

As for future development, the Frenchman remains convinced that the A524 is a solid base. « There is potential in this car. We definitely have something (an improvement, Editor’s note) to come, but we also have to change the way we develop the car, perhaps also how we drive it. We really need to change our general approach on everything we learn about the A524 and it will certainly be very useful in developing the A526. »

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Kelman Marti