Alpine: Consistency a ‘key objective’ in second half of F1 season

Alpine technical director David Sanchez says the Enstone squad aims to conclude its 2024 campaign on the “high side” of its performance level by displaying greater consistency, a quality that crucially lacked in the first half of the French outfit’s season.

It’s been a rollercoaster year so far for Alpine, marked by both on-track struggles and significant changes within its leadership and technical teams.

Highlights like scoring double points in Canada and Spain have been counterbalanced by various setbacks, such as the disappointing qualifying result at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix or the run-in between Alpine’s drivers in Monaco.

These inconsistencies and difficulties have left Alpine with just 11 points in F1’s Constructors’ Championship, placing them in 8th position in the overall standings.

As the team prepares for the Dutch Grand Prix, which will kick off the final 10 races of the season, David Sanchez has outlined the key objectives that Alpine will be focusing on.

The primary goal is to stabilize and enhance the team’s performance, particularly during qualifying.

“Looking at how we finished the first half of the season, now naturally for the second half, our objective will be to try and settle on the high side of our performance level, which is trying to consistently enter Q3 in qualifying,” Sanchez explained in an Alpine mid-season review published on YouTube.

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Acknowledging the fierce competition in the top 10 during qualifying, Sanchez emphasized the importance of extracting the maximum potential from the car.

“It is tough because the top teams are making Q3 very busy, but we’ve seen now – if we can extract all the potential from the car and bring further improvements – we can aspire to being on the edge of the top 10 and staying there,” he added.

Consistency, according to Sanchez, is crucial for achieving these goals.

“This is one of the key objectives – being consistent and extracting consistently the maximum performance from the car,” he said. “If we’re able to do this, then we should be bringing more points for the championship, and at the end of the year we’ll see exactly how far we can get to.”

Beyond the technical aspects, Sanchez is also focused on cultivating a new mindset within the team, which he believes is essential for future success.

“Another objective for the team is to try and keep building the foundation of the sort of mindset of racing spirit we’d like to build for the future,” the Frenchman explained.

“It is different from where we’ve been in the last few months or few years, but it’s one transformation which is ongoing, and it’s already been fruitful and we definitely keep building on this one.”

Sanchez’s return to Alpine, where he began his F1 career nearly two decades ago, has been pivotal in steering the team through a challenging period. After a 10-year stint at Ferrari and a brief tenure at McLaren, his return to Enstone has injected new energy into the team.

“I joined the team at the start of May after what was a difficult start of the season,” he recounted.

“I have to say, there has been a great reaction from the team, because a lot of changes happened in very little time. We reviewed the development plan [and] tried to establish a road ahead to bring development to the car in a fairly aggressive manner.”

Recent developments introduced in Belgium have already shown promise, and Sanchez is optimistic about the upcoming updates.

“We’ve seen some [developments in] Belgium, which was the first pass,” he continued.

“We have many more coming for later in the season, and so far I have to say the team have been great, so I’m settling in pretty well, and we’ll try and build on this for the future and keep bringing more and more performance.”

As Alpine gears up for the final races of the season, Sanchez’s vision for the team is clear: maintain consistency, maximize performance, and continue evolving the team's mindset, all with an eye on finishing the season on a high note and laying a strong foundation for 2025.

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