Alpine sign former Raikkonen engineer to crucial new F1 role

Alpine have signed Kimi Raikkonen's former Ferrari F1 race engineer Dave Greenwood as its new racing director. 

Greenwood was paired with Raikkonen during his second spell at the Scuderia, with the Finn said to like Greenwood's talking style over the radio - with the Briton being on the receiving end of the famous "gloves and steering wheel" line from Raikkonen at the 2017 Azerbaijan GP. 

He departed F1 in May 2018 for a position as Manor technical director in the World Endurance Championship, holding a similar position at United Autosports, before spending three years as 'Head of Special Projects' at Hitech for its failed 2026 entry bid. 

Hitech boss Oliver Oakes was appointed as Alpine F1 team principal in summer 2024, with Greenwood assuming his new role as Alpine racing director in January 2025.

He is on-site during Bahrain testing, where Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan have enjoyed strong running, a far cry from 2024 testing when the A524 machine proved slow and was over-weight. 

Greenwood had previously worked as a vehicle dynamicist at BAR between 2000-2004, before joining Renault (which is now Alpine) as a race/performance engineer in 2005, staying with the team as Fernando Alonso won the '05 and '06 titles.

Prior to joining Ferrari, he then spent four years at Manor/Marussia, joining Ferrari in October 2014.