Only the steering wheel survived radical Alpine redesign

Alpine is the fourth team to host a launch for 2024, but during a joint-event with its WEC programme, the Enstone-based outfit became just the second, after Stake Sauber – to show the world its actual car for the upcoming season.

Alpine launched the A524 on Wednesday afternoon, with the French side having started from complete scratch. Despite Esteban Ocon claiming an impressive podium in Monaco and Pierre Gasly finishing third at the Dutch Grand Prix, 2023 was an underwhelming campaign.

It has opted for a "bold" and aggressive approach for 2024 to climb up the pecking order, as outlined during the launch by Technical Director Matt Harman, who has remained in his role under Team Principal Bruno Famin.

Almost every aspect of the A524 has been changed, from front to rear, in a bid to get back amongst the top five in the Constructors' Championship, after slipping in a below-par last season to a distant sixth.

Gasly and Ocon are completing a shakedown test on February 20th, where they will get their first real impressions of what is a completely different car from the A523.

Only the 'steering wheel' survived

Alpine has only kept the steering wheel of its 2023 car, highlighting just how big a challenge the side gave themselves during the winter break.

"Starting from the front, the A523 didn't quite deliver what we wanted," Harman said during the launch.

"We needed to look at ourselves, we needed to look inwards and understand what we needed to do differently.

"We started that process actually originally from concept back in week 45 of 2022. But more so after the first few races of 2023. We decided to take a very bold approach as Bruno [Famin] said it's a brand-new car from front to back. I think only the steering wheel survived.

"So you know, we've really tried to look at every single area of the car to make sure that we leave no stone unturned, and we give ourselves a car that can have potential throughout the year.

"We plateaued a bit with the A523, and I think this car, I think we have that potential."