Alpine F1 technical director Matt Harman says the Enstone squad will tackle the 2024 season with an A524 car overhauled from “front-to-back” as the team acknowledges the limitations of its predecessor.
Alpine endured a tumultuous year marked especially by the political currents that rolled through the team over the summer.
On the sporting front, the French outfit’s campaign was a story of regression as it slipped from fourth to sixth in F1’s Constructors’ standings, with the team adding just two podiums to its track record.
Like its rivals, Alpine’s approach to the design of its 2024 contender was largely determined by its decision to conceive a car that will also serve as the basis for its 2025 machine, as teams will begin to channel their development efforts towards the significant changes introduced in the 2026 regulations.
Harman admits that its progress on the A523 fell short of expectations, prompting the decision to prioritize a fresh approach for 2024.
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"We didn't do as well as we did on A522,” the Briton explained, quoted by Motorsport.com about the development path of this year’s car.
“I think we had a great year [in 2022], that year, I think every time we touched the development of the car, we put load, and we took a lot of weight off the car as well. So there was there was a lot of performance to be had.
“As we've got on that asymptote, and we're getting closer to the sorts of loads that we're seeing now, it's becoming more and more tricky, and you've got to get into more and more detail.
“And that means we have to be a little bit more careful about how we invest our money. And so I don't think this year has been as successful as the 522.
Alpine F1 technical director Matt Harman
“I think that's why for the following year's car, we've had to really unlock some real estate again, which is why the car is completely new, front-to-back.
“So I think you'll see that up and down the grid, because the car needs to last for a couple of years while we look for the future."
Alpine found itself as early as mid-season with little to fight for in the championship, which prompted Enstone to focus on next year’s car without the pressure to compete for higher positions.
“We knew we weren't quite where we wanted to be this year, we knew that our developments were plateauing a little bit on the car, because of limitations that we had,” said Harman.
“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’, and we moved over reasonably quickly.
“Mechanically, we started the car in week 45 of 2022. The mechanical side of things in terms of chassis and those pieces of equipment and getting a lot of mass out the car, we started that very early. That's something we do very regularly now. But it's probably earlier than we've ever done.”
Harman pointed to the A523’s “very narrow” operating window as a key weakness that weighed on the consistency of the car’s performance and a deficiency that Alpine is addressing.
“I think its weakness is it needs to operate in a very narrow window,” he said. “And if you go to a circuit where it's has a particular surface condition or a high level of ride content or something, then we can find ourselves in a position where it's more of a struggle, and the drivers don't enjoy the car.
“That's one of its weaknesses at the moment, that it is quite narrow. So we need to broaden it a little bit.
“We thought we broadened it enough going into the season, but clearly, we didn't. So that's what we're working on."
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