Alpine were the enigma of the season. Two talented drivers, manufacturer support and a solid 2022 season, however you would be forgiven for not noticing them during a race, or if you did, it was more than likely for the wrong reasons.
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Alpine were the final car to launch their 2023 challenger on the 16th February. The A523 was shown to the world with its traditional blue and pink of BWT, the teams title sponsor.
Joining the A523 were the teams all French driver line-up. Esteban Ocon started his third year with the team and Pierre Gasly moved from Alpha Tauri.
The team hoped that they could build on a decent showing in 2022, however that didn’t happen. The most exciting part of the season came off the track rather than on it.
Early season drama
As with most teams, Alpine got caught up in drama at the Australian GP. Ocon and Gasly touched at the exit of turn 3 prematurely ending their races. This proved to be a metaphor for the season. Both drivers being pretty close on the track and in the standings.
As the season progressed, it was clear that the team were nowhere near where they thought they should be. Fourth in the Constructors looking more and more like a distant memory.
This wasn’t how it was meant to go. Talk of a change in leadership soon soon emerged in the motorsport publications.
Backstage drama
With the pressure building on the team, Alpine’s the CEO, Laurent Rossi spoke with the French TV channel Canal+.
Rossi was quoted as saying:
I didn’t like the first grand prix because there was a lot of, and I have to tell you, amateurish. This led to a result that was not good and mediocre and bad. The last race in Baku looks furiously like that in Bahrain and that is not acceptable. We have the right to make mistakes, it’s a basic principle.
It was clear that Alpine were not happy with the early season campaign, but were these comments necessary?
Soon after the interview Rossi was moved from his role as CEO to “overseeing special projects” for the wider Renault group. He was replaced by Philippe Kreif.
If you thought that was the end of the drama you would be wrong. Only a few days before the Belgian GP weekend, Alpine decided to announce the departure of Team Principal, Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane.
Meanwhile, Pat Fry left to take up a role at Williams as Chief Technical Officer.
With how the season developed it was not a surprise that Alpine’s hierarchy had decided on the change. However the timing was a bit peculiar, with the now sacked Permane and Szafnauer both expected to complete their duties at the Belgium GP before leaving.
These changes also put a spotlight on Alpine’s issues with staff and drivers, with numerous high profile people leaving the team including Alain Prost, who was a non – executive director with the team. The four-time F1 Champion had less than favourable views on Laurent Rossi’s departure calling him an “incapable leader”.
Alpine also managed to lose two extremely talented drivers. Fernando Alonso opted to move to Aston Martin and Oscar Piastri went to McLaren. The Australian was infamously initially announced as Alonso’s replacement.
Sliding into mediocrity
Alpine’s 2023 season was on the whole underwhelming. It was clear that they had lost a step against Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren, which was reflected in their final standings in the Constructors.
A distant sixth was all that Alpine could muster, the (all too few) highs included a podium visit for each driver in Monaco and Zandvoort.
The drivers campaigns were fraught with inter team contact at Australia and Hungary and a lack of any consistent challenge in the higher scoring positions. Both drivers are capable of scoring points but these races were interspersed with several in the bottom half, or even worse, with the dreaded DNF.
2024 has to be as season of both stability and growth. The team need to find a calming influence on the pit wall. This should allow them to produce a car that will give them an opportunity to challenge consistently, taking the fight to teams such as Ferrari McLaren and Mercedes.
Alpine’s F1 Season Review report card would read: distracted too easily, which is reflected in their work, must to do better”
If they fail to learn from their 2023 mistakes we could see the circus of driver and staff changes impacting the Alpine team yet again.
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