Alpine's Technical Director And Head Of Aero Officially Depart Team After Failed First Race
F1Tuesday, 05 March 2024 at 00:30
Alpine's Technical Director, Matt Harman, and head of Aerodynamics, Dirk de Beer, have officially left the team following the disappointing result at the season's first race.
Following the failed 2023 season, where Alpine finished in sixth place (two positions down in 2022), the French team had a clear goal of catching up with the top five teams this year.
However, after the first race of the season, it seems Alpine might fall at least an additional two, if not four, positions in the Championship if the team isn't able to make significant development progress throughout the season.
In Bahrain, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly took the last two positions on the grid in the qualifying and then finished well outside of points in P17 and P18 in the race.
Alpine's Technical Director And Head Of Aero Officially Depart Team
It was rumored just a few days ago, and now, it has been officially announced that Technical Director, Matt Harman, and head of Aerodynamics, Dirk de Beer will no longer stay with the French team.
Following the departure of the two key members, Alpine will rearrange its structure to have a trio of technical directors: Joe Burnell as Technical Director (Engineering), David Wheater as Technical Director (Aerodynamics), and Ciaron Pilbeam as Technical Director (Performance). Bruno Famin said:
"We have decided to make these organisational changes as we can clearly see that we are not where we want nor need to be in terms of performance level and it is time to take another step in terms of organisation and people."
The team principal of Alpine will hope that the new three-pillared structure will be more successful at bringing the team to its ultimate goal of fighting for the Championship. However, now, it is more about at least getting back to the front of the midfield.
"The new three-pillared structure with three Technical Directors, each specialising in different areas, will bring better work and collaboration across our technical areas and contribute to delivering performance from the factories to the race track."
Famin also expressed his confidence in newly appointed technical directors and thanked Harmann and de Beer for their previous contribution as he added:
"I trust fully in the abilities of Joe, David, and Ciaron to work closely together in bringing the team the performance and improvements that it needs."
"Finally, I would like to thank Matt and Dirk for their efforts over the last couple of years at the team and wish them the very best in the next chapter of their careers."
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