Alpine announce Sanchez to oversee F1 technical department

Alpine has announced it has appointed David Sanchez as the team’s new Formula 1 Executive Technical Director following his abrupt exit from McLaren last month.

McLaren hired Sanchez to slot into its three-pillared technical group, but he departed after three months due to a “misalignment” over his designated responsibilities.

Alpine has since taken advantage to poach Sanchez to supervise its own revised three-pronged structure, implemented as a response to the team’s disastrous start.

Ciaron Pilbeam (Performance), Joe Burnell (Engineering) and David Wheater (Aerodynamics) will report to Sanchez, who will converse with team boss Bruno Famin.

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“I am delighted to welcome David back to Enstone, where he started his career back in 2005,” said Famin.

This is a key appointment to ensure we are optimising everything we do as a team and focusing on the right performance areas.

“It is clear that the performance of the car and development path has not moved at a sufficient pace relative to our ambitions as a team.

We look forward to welcoming David and working hard together to achieve the ultimate success.”

Erstwhile Technical Director Matt Harman and Aerodynamicist Dirk de Beer both elected to hand in their resignations following the season-opening round in Bahrain.

The Anglo-French marque’s choice to overhaul its car concept for 2024 has resulted in an overweight and uncompetitive A524 car that has failed to land a point so far.

Sanchez, who worked with the Enstone-based squad when it was known as Renault in the nascent stages of his career, will aim to help haul Alpine further up the grid.

“I’m excited by this challenge at Alpine. I’m looking forward to working at Enstone again, the place where I started my Formula 1 career,” Sanchez added.

“This team has always had so many fantastic people involved and there is clearly so much potential to unlock.

“We have a big task ahead to improve on-track performance and it is this type of challenge that motivates me. 

“I’m very much ready to begin and look forward to working with the Enstone-Viry technical teams again with the sole aim of bringing regular success back to this great team.”