Alpine is hoping that a further big package of upgrades for the flyaway races after the summer break will help its ongoing recovery from a poor start to the season, and put it on the right path for 2025.
Alpine went five races into the current campaign before managing to score any points. Even now after 14 events it's still languishing in eighth place in the constructors championship with a total of just 11 points.
But there have been recent green shoots of recovery an Enstone with Flavio Briatore returning to the squad he once ran as a senior advisor, and Oliver Oakes replacing Bruno Famin as team principal from the Dutch GP onwards.
The final race before the summer break saw the team introduce its latest package of updated parts for the A524 at Spa, which saw Esteban Ocon finish in the points in ninth place in the Belgian Grand Prix.
Now the plan is for another comprehensive upgrade in time for the final long-haul races of the campaign, which will also set the basis and direction for next year when technical rules and regulations remain largely unchanged.
“This was a first step in the pipeline," said executive technical director David Sanchez - himself a new recuit from McLaren - said of the new components rolled out in the most recent race.
"We have another one, which should be quite big, and that should be the basis for next year. We will do more on this year's car, definitely," he revealed, adding that this would take place “a few races after the break.”
Sanchez insisted that the two-stop plan for 2024 had always been part of the approach for 2024 after its early struggles with an overweight car.
“We've been working on this one since day one,” he said of the Spa package. “The other one is an extension, using a bit more time to go further.”
Sanchez said that the team was moving out of its problem-solving phase meaning that it would finally be able to focus on performance upgrades.
“The number one problem is for everyone finding more downforce and trying to design out some anomalies which we may see with the current car,” he said. “This package is intended primarily for more downforce, but also a little bit more top speed.”
Sanchez himself has only been at Alpine since May, following a brief spell at McLaren that was terminated early by mutual agreement when the set-up at Woking changed and left him without a role suited to his expertise and experience.
Prior to that, Sanchez had been a long-standing designer and head of vehicle concept at Ferrari. At Alpine, he oversees the technical department at Enstone with overall responsibility for performance, engineering, and aerodynamics.
While he's not had much opportunity to make a big impression in the team's plans for this or next season, Sanchez is obviously keeping a close eye on how things are looking for 2026 when the rules and regulations undergo major changes.
“From an infrastructure point of view, the team was already well advanced with its plans,” he acknowledged. “But we looked together about whether we needed to prioritise a few items more than others.
"Where we are now, the plan we have, if I look at '26 and beyond, we should be in a good position," he continued. "Now it's more to get everything in the right direction with this car - the next one - and build more confidence in the team.”
Although it's not official, it's widely assumed that Alpine will drop its Renault engine in 2026 and start using Mercedes customer units instead. Another current unknown is the driver line-up for next season and beyond.
Pierre Gasly is still under contract with the team, but current team mate Esteban Ocon will leave Enstone at the end of the season to join Haas, leaving an open seat on the grid.
Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan is considered the favourite seat, but current Mercedes reserve Mick Schumacher is also believed to be in the running among others.
Famin's departure as principal at the end of July and the announcement that Hitech F2 and F2 team owner Oakes will be in charge at Zandvoort could also mean a lot of change in the coming months as Alpine seeks to rebuild.
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
