According to Alpine technical director David Sanchez, the Enstone-based team aims to finish the 2024 season on the “high side” of its performance level by showing greater consistency, a quality that the French team was sorely lacking in the first half of the season.
It has been a rollercoaster year for Alpine so far, marked by difficulties on the track as well as significant changes in management and technical teams.
However, highlights such as the double points haul in Canada and Spain were also offset by various setbacks, such as the disappointing qualifying result at the season opener in Bahrain, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, or the dispute between the Alpine drivers in Monaco.
Due to these inconsistencies and difficulties, Alpine has only 11 points in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship and is in 8th place overall.
As the team prepares for the Dutch Grand Prix, which will host the final ten races of the season, David Sanchez has outlined the key objectives that Alpine will focus on.
The primary goal is to stabilize and improve the team’s performance, especially during qualifying.
“Given how we finished the first half of the season, our aim for the second half of the season will obviously be to establish ourselves on the upper side of our performance level, which means trying to get into Q3 consistently in qualifying,” explained Sanchez in an Alpine half-time review posted on YouTube.
Read also:
Sanchez was aware of the tough competition in the top 10 during qualifying and stressed the importance of getting the maximum potential out of the car.
“It’s tough because the top teams make Q3 very busy. But we’ve seen now that if we can exploit the full potential of the car and make further improvements, we can aim for a place in the top 10 and stay there,” he added.
According to Sanchez, consistency is crucial to achieving these goals.
“That’s one of the main goals – to be consistent and to consistently get the maximum performance out of the car,” he said. “If we can do that, we should score more points for the championship and at the end of the year we will see exactly how far we can go.”
Beyond the technical aspects, Sanchez is also focused on developing a new mindset within the team, which he believes is crucial for future success.
“Another objective of the team is to lay the foundations for the racing spirit that we want to build in the future,” explained the Frenchman.
“It’s different than where we’ve been in the last few months or years, but it’s a transformation that’s underway and it’s already borne fruit and we’re definitely continuing to build on it.”
Sanchez’s return to Alpine, where he began his F1 career almost two decades ago, has been crucial in leading the team through a difficult period. After a 10-year stint at Ferrari and a brief spell at McLaren, his return to Enstone has injected new energy into the team.
“I joined the team at the beginning of May, after a difficult start to the season,” he says.
“I have to say the team’s response has been great because there have been a lot of changes in a very short space of time. We’ve reviewed the development plan and tried to find a way to develop the car quite aggressively.”
The latest developments introduced in Belgium have already shown promising results and Sanchez is optimistic about the upcoming updates.
“We saw some (developments in) Belgium, that was the first step,” he continued.
“We have a lot more to offer later in the season and so far I have to say the team has been great, so I’m coping quite well. We’ll try to build on that in the future and keep performing better.”
As Alpine prepares for the final races of the season, Sanchez’s vision for the team is clear: maintain consistency, maximise performance and evolve the team’s mindset, all with the aim of ending the season on a winning note and laying a strong foundation for 2025.
Stay up to date with all F1 news via on facebook. And Þjórsárdalur
