Alpine restructure: F1 team now has three technical directors after resignations
Alpine have made changes to their technical department after a nightmare start to the new F1 season.
The Alpine F1 team have announced a technical restructuring in response to the exits of two key figures following a horrific start to the new season.
Over the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend it emerged that technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer had both decided to quit their jobs.
Alpine suffered a dreadful start to the new campaign as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly qualified at the back of the grid for Saturday’s season opener, before going on to finish a lowly 17th and 18th in the race.
On Monday, the French outfit confirmed Harman and de Beer’s resignations as they announced a new structure similar to the three-pillared approach used by McLaren.
Alpine have created three specialised technical roles, with Joe Burnell taking over as technical director (engineering), David Wheater becoming technical director (aerodynamics) and Ciaron Pilbeam taking up the position of technical director (performance).
All three will report directly to team principal Bruno Famin.
“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,” Famin explained.
“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.
“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.”
Alpine, who finished a distant sixth in 2023, find themselves at the bottom of the constructors’ championship after a woeful opening round.
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