Alpine’s new executive technical director David Sanchez says that the Enstone Formula 1 team has everything needed to make a competitive car. The former Ferrari man joined Alpine in May after brief spell at McLaren. Sanchez now oversees three technical directors, divided into the performance, engineering and aerodynamics areas.
The Frenchman, who previously worked at the team starting in the Fernando Alonso era in 2005, has made an assessment of what he has found.
“They are very good,” he said when asked about the team’s facilities. “Everything needed to make a competitive car is there. So I was very pleased when I joined.
“Coming from outside, there was obviously a few things where I tended to have my own opinion.
“There was a plan in place. We reviewed the plan, we adjusted a few things. And for sure, that car needs a big push on upgrades. We are working on it, and it’s going pretty well for now.
“Some of them were on the pipeline. Now we have a lot more coming up, plenty of ideas, and now it’s trying to pedal as fast as we can.”
Ask about the A524’s weaknesses he added: “I think it’s a bit of a lack of development. We just need more downforce, we need a bit more of everything, especially downforce.
“I think, for now, we’re developing around the weaknesses. This year in-season, it’s a lot about aerodynamics and for next year’s car. When we review the hardware, we’ll try and focus on fundamentally changing a few aspects of the car. And that should be another step forward.”
Sanchez: Alpine to make changes in 2025
Most teams intended their basic 2024 packages to remain largely unchanged heading into 2025, giving the obvious focus on the 2026 rules.
However, Sanchez admitted that Alpine will make mechanical changes for the A525.
“For next year, there will be conceptual changes,” he said. “Again, we’re talking on suspensions, mostly. For this year, we’re shifting a big focus on aerodynamics.
“I wouldn’t say it’s going to be big concept changes, because when you look at the car, it will look similar. But when you look at the aerodynamic characteristics, they would tend to be, some of them, different. Some of them with a just bit more powerful performance.”
Sanchez agreed that the team has done a good job of optimising what has been a relatively stable package recently, with both drivers regularly in the top 10.
“There is for sure at the moment good momentum in the team,” he said. “We’ll try and maintain this until we get more upgrades, and we should build on that.”
“This has been a lot about learning how to how best to run the car set-up wise. There are some aspects to get the car in low-speed corners, which is good, to get the car turning,. But in traction, it’s not very good.
“And then it’s about how to combine aero and mechanical sides just to try and get in a different optimum. This is where we seem to be at the moment. We’re trying to go further this weekend, and in the future we will try and have a car bit more adaptable.”
Sanchez acknowledged that weight has been a key issue: “When the car is overweight at the start of the season you know that weight-saving is the most straightforward way to add performance of the car.
“So for us, it was a little unfortunate the extra weight at the start of the season, but there’s been a lot of very good work in the design office to get that car now under the weight limit.”
