The gift that kept on giving
For a large part of the 2024 season Alpine were the gift that kept on giving. A poor start to the season led to early team changes which would continue at other parts of the season and would also include a driver change for the last race of the season. The team would eventually finish 6th in the Constructors, a position that largely flattered and was mainly thanks to a large points haul from the chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix. Let’s look in further detail.
The Team
After the team finished bottom of the pile in the first race the sword was wielded for the first time. Technical Director Matt Harman and Head of Aerodynamic Dirk de Beer were the two names to bite the bullet. Shortly after Advisor Bob Bell announced he was leaving to link up with Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin. By the time we got to May, Flavio Briatore, who used to run the team during its Renault days until the Crash Gate saga was installed back into the team as Special Advisor.
This was a great move in my opinion, Briatore doesn’t suffer any fools and will not be afraid to do what he needs to, to sort out the team.
Fast forward a couple of months and it was announced that Ocon would not be retained for 2025 and during the Belgium Grand Prix, it was announced that Team Principal Bruno Famin would leave the team with immediate effect.
The team also announced that for the 2026 season they would not be producing their own engine and would instead become a customer of Mercedes, slightly embarrassing for a manufacturer backed by Renault to admit the engines they produce are not up to the job. I would like to think this is only temporary while they look to rebuild and start from scratch at within the engine department.
The Drivers
Alpine started the 2024 season with Pierre Gasly and Estaban Ocon and they ended the season with Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan. There were some questions about the line up back in 2023 as it was well reported that Gasly and Ocon, despite being childhood friends no longer got on. Ocon also seems to have a bit of a history with falling out with his teammate. It happened when he drove for Force India and again at Alpine with Fernando Alonso. That relationship went very sour after initially being quite friendly between the two. Sparks started to fly, after the two made contact in Monaco, however after a 5-place grid penalty by the time they got to Canada, Ocon had taken the blame for the incident.
Gasly and Ocon, were however the first pairing to claim the team’s first double podium under the Alpine name. They benefited by being in the right place in the right time after a series of unfortunate events at the Brazilian Grand Prix led both drivers to finish 2nd & 3rd. This leaped the team from 9th to 6th in the championship standings.
Ocon was released of his contract after his DNF in Qatar and was replaced by Jack Doohan for the final race.
For 2025….
Doohan will partner Gasly at least for the start of 2025. Alpine however have signed Colapinto as their reserve driver. Colapinto impressed for Williams after he replaced Logan Sargeant. I think there are altera motives for Alpine signing him and unless Doohan is a close match to Gasly, he could be out of a drive sooner rather than later. On a whole though they have to do better than last season, technically the team (as Renault) are former World Champions and they have to start at least pushing to be the best of the midfield and cannot rely on lucky one off results.
2024 Season Rating 3/10
The DRS Zone 
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