Alpine insist no fractures in F1 journey despite overhaul

Alpine Interim Team Principal Bruno Famin has insisted the team is heading in the right direction despite the flurry of staff changes.

The French manufacturer announced that Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane would leave the squad during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, with Pat Fry also departing to take up a senior technical role with Williams in November.

The announcements came just days after Alpine confirmed CEO Laurent Rossi had been moved to oversee 'special projects', with Philippe Krief taking over at the helm.

Earlier this year, Rossi was critical of Alpine’s performances amid a difficult season for the team.

The Enstone-based outfit sits sixth in the Constructors’ Championship on 57 points and appears unlikely to mount a defence on its fourth-place result from last season.

Alpine not moving backwards

Alpine outlined a 100-race plan to return to the front of the F1 pack two years ago but after a challenging start to the current campaign, Esteban Ocon scored a third-place result in Monaco, marking its first podium since 2021

Despite the high of the top three finish, Alpine's overall results this year suggest that it is slipping away from end target, although Famin asserts that this is not the case.

“What is happening is the second stage of the Alpine rocket, if I may say. It's not going backwards, it’s moving forwards,” Famin told media including RacingNews365.com.

“Of course, it's a lot of change. But it's an opportunity also, to have a new foundation, or to consolidate the foundation and to go further and faster.

“The key objective is the one I mentioned recently: we need to win, we aim for winning races and championships as soon as possible.

“We need to constantly improve our cars, the full package, from race to race, from year to year.

“We know that it's not easy. We know that the change of regulation is generally a good milestone for changing the ranking and I think it's quite a reasonable target.

"But it will not be a step, it's improving constantly up to that.”