After falling well short of its 2023 season targets, Alpine has decided not to set a specific world championship position as a goal this year
“Fourth place is the minimum target,” said the then Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi unequivocally before the 2023 Formula 1 season – and was out of a job a few months later. Ahead of the 2024 season, the French are dispensing with such clear guidelines this time
“We’re not going to set ourselves any targets,” emphasized Team Principal Bruno Famin during the presentation of the new A524, explaining: “For me, a good 2024 season will be a season in which we will be able to see improvements.”
“And when I say improvements, I’m not just talking about the track,” he emphasizes. Rather, 2024 is about “improving the way we work in the factories, developing our processes, developing our people,” says Famin.
“That really is the goal,” he says, avoiding a clear target with regard to the World Championship. In 2023, this was a resounding failure, as instead of finishing fourth, the team only ended up in sixth place at the end of the year.
The last time the team from Enstone finished even further back in the world championship was in the 2016 season, when the team was still called Renault and only finished ninth in the championship. This may be why they are holding back on predictions this time around
Famin is once again hoping for a small taste of success
According to Famin, however, this does not mean that Alpine will not try again in 2024 to “use every opportunity on the track to achieve good results,” says the team boss, who emphasizes that they also managed to do this in the previous season.
“Even though the overall result was poor last year,” he explains, the drivers were able to take advantage of their opportunities when they arose, “and we need to do that even more often,” he demands for the coming 2024 season.
Last year, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly both finished on the podium once, plus another third place for Gasly in the sprint in Belgium. Enstone is hoping for a few more of these small successes in 2024.
However, according to Famin, the overriding goal is “to win in Formula 1”, he clarifies. Therefore, the most important thing in the new season is to take a step in this direction – regardless of the pure results on the track.
