Pierre Gasly believes that Alpine was right to field an all-new car for the 2024 season, even in hindsight, despite the Enstone squad’s disappointing campaign.
Alpine concluded 2023 sixth in F1’s Constructors’ standings, a regression from its fourth-place finish in 2022. As a result, the French outfit subsequently decided to abandon the development of its A523 and follow a fresh concept for 2024.
But good results were far and few between in the first half of the season, while a significant overhaul of Alpine’s technical department right after the opening race in Bahrain added to the complexity of evolving in-season a car whose design was overseen by engineers – technical director Matt Harman and aero chief Dirk de Beer – that were no longer with the team.
Despite the challenges and difficulties, Gasly believes that the long-term benefits of producing a new design outweighed the short-term struggles.
"I think it's performance-related. Last year the team felt that it got to the end of the development with their car concept," Gasly told Motorsport.com.
"As we missed our targets, they're like, 'do we want to go for another year where we know we'll probably be stuck to where we are?' And they said, we want more than that, so, we'll try something else.
"Which to me, I think was the right choice. We're not in Formula 1 to be satisfied with the sixth place in the constructors'."
While the team's current position is far from ideal, Gasly remains optimistic. He believes the revamped car lays a stronger foundation for the future.
"Unfortunately, it didn't pay out with the directions that you know they took with the car concept we have this year, but nonetheless, I still think the way the team's operating is at a better level than when I arrived," he said.
The true test of Alpine's gamble will come in the remaining races of 2024 and, more importantly, in the 2025 season. If the new car design proves to be a significant improvement, the early struggles of 2024 will be a small price to pay for a more competitive future.
"So, it's a matter of bringing that performance onto the car, which is obviously not easy,” he added.
“But I know we've got good directions already for next season, which will put us in a better place and with the sort of processes and the people and what they've built and kept working, I can feel that there'll be something good coming out of it."
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