Alpine has recently undergone a significant reorganization of its technical leadership following the resignations of technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer. The news of their departures became public during the team’s lackluster Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, where they performed poorly and finished near the back of the grid. The internal announcement of the restructuring was made at Enstone, as planned before the race weekend, but due to the leak of information in Bahrain, many team members learned about Harman and De Beer’s resignations indirectly.
The restructure follows a similar approach taken by McLaren last year and involves the implementation of a new three-pillared system at Alpine. This means that three technical directors will be appointed to focus on different aspects of the chassis. These appointments are all internal, allowing for immediate implementation of the new structure. Joe Burnell has been named technical director (engineering), David Wheater as technical director (aerodynamics), and Ciaron Pilbeam, a long-time race engineer for Mark Webber, as technical director (performance). Eric Meignan, the power unit technical director based in France, will remain in his position. All four individuals will report to team principal Bruno Famin.
Famin explained the reasoning behind the organizational changes, stating that the team recognizes the need for improved performance and believes that a new structure and personnel are necessary to achieve this. The three-pillared approach is expected to enhance collaboration and productivity across the technical departments, ultimately leading to better performance on the race track. Famin expressed confidence in the abilities of Burnell, Wheater, and Pilbeam to work together and bring the team the improvements it requires. He also thanked Harman and De Beer for their contributions to the team and wished them success in their future endeavors.
While the resignations of Harman and De Beer can be attributed to the issues with the 2024 car and the team’s disappointing start to the season, discussions about potential changes to the technical structure had been ongoing for some time. It is possible that the resignations accelerated this process. Alpine acknowledged in its press release that the decision to restructure came after a period of underwhelming results in the Formula 1 World Championship, with the team dropping from fourth place in the 2022 championship to sixth in 2023 and failing to meet certain performance targets.