Alpine has revealed it has systems in place that will bear fruit in time for the new Formula 1 regulations in 2026, but insists the team is also chasing gains for the next two seasons.
After a promising start to the latest ground effect era in 2022 that saw Alpine finish fourth in the Constructors’ standings, the Enstone squad slipped to sixth last term.
Alpine slipped back on its development path with its A523 charger and scored 53 points less than the season before amid serious gains from McLaren and Aston Martin.
A poor start to the season compared to Alpine’s lofty expectations saw several key figures depart halfway through the season, including former CEO Laurent Rossi (who moved elsewhere within the Renault Group), ex-Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane as well as erstwhile Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry (now at Williams).
With Alpine hamstrung by an underpowered engine, Technical Director Matt Harman has stated the team’s focus is already largely focused a few years down the line.
“We took a decision in the end to focus on the future, and we’ll deal with this power unit for the next two years by trying to remove some of its losses and everything we can do within these regulations,” Harman said.
New power unit regulations in 2026, which will see the introduction of sustainable fuels plus a greater reliance on electrification, opens up the possibility for Alpine to progress.
The Anglo-French marque’s prospects will also be aided by a revised Capital Expenditure spending structure that will allow it to spend more money on vital systems and tools compared to the teams at the top of F1’s pecking order.
“Our focus is on the future and the 2026 regs as well as the cars we need to do between now and then,” added Harman. “We have got some big ideas for that.
“We have also got a big programme at both sites [Viry, France, Enstone, UK], to improve the capabilities and functions.”
“You’ll have seen there are some CapEx equalisation topics that have gone on with the FIA,” Harman continued.
“We are fully funded to achieve those. We will put all those pieces of equipment in.
“They will be alive and working to feed into the 2026 regulations and also into cars well before that.
“We are focusing on our simulation tools, we need to be sharper, we need to be better at getting good answers to difficult questions more quickly.
“The plan that we have had for the last three years is from my perspective unchanged – we’re just accelerating it.
“We are well funded, we have enough people – it’s just about getting our heads down and getting on with it.
“The simulator was commissioned in readiness for 2026. It’s being installed next year. It’ll sit in a massive building that’ll house some other interesting developments, so from my side I’m very excited about it.”
However, before 2026 – when seemingly every team on the grid will be hoping to reap the benefits of rule changes and long-term project planning – two more seasons of competition need to be run and Alpine’s Harman has revealed a similar forward-thinking approach toward the 2026 car has been employed with this year’s machine.
“We know we weren’t quite where we wanted to be last year,” Harman admitted. “We knew that our developments were plateauing a bit on the car because of limitations we had.
“When you know that you’re reaching that point, you’re better off understanding where you are in the championship and think to yourself, ‘let’s move over to next year’s car’. We moved over reasonably quickly.
“Mechanically, we had the car – we started the car in week 45 of 2022 so from a mechanical side of things, in terms of chassis and those pieces of equipment and getting a lot of mass out of the car, we started that very early.
“It’s something we do regularly now, but that was probably earlier than we have ever done.”
Preparing a car’s design from a mechanical and chassis perspective well in advance could prove fruitful for Alpine in the short term, but with development on 2026 chassis prohibited until January 1, 2025, the team will need its investment into simulator tools to work to succeed long term.
