David Sanchez's Shift to Alpine Could Boost Team

Amidst ongoing struggles, Alpine F1 may benefit greatly from hiring former Ferrari engineer David Sanchez.

Alpine F1 could soon receive a crucial technical boost with the recruitment of a former long-time and highly respected Ferrari engineer.

Last year, David Sanchez, the vehicle concept manager at Ferrari, left Maranello for a “gardening leave.” The Frenchman then reappeared for 2024 and beyond as McLaren’s new performance technical director.

However, in a shocking development announced last week, Sanchez and McLaren suddenly parted ways.

Sources have now revealed that Sanchez’s next destination could well be Alpine—the Renault factory team currently in crisis.

Rumors suggest he will be appointed technical director, after technical director Matt Harman and aerodynamics head Dirk de Beer recently left Alpine.

Sanchez left Ferrari and now McLaren because he did not want to share responsibility with other engineers in making the most important decisions, according to these sources.

Given that Alpine does not yet have an undisputed technical leader in place, Sanchez will become the new technical director of the team, a role he has long sought, as soon as he finishes his gardening leave at the beginning of July.

Alpine team boss Bruno Famin admitted in Suzuka that his main role is now to “restructure the team” that produced the slowest car on the entire 2024 grid.

“I was at Viry these past two years. Now, I am mainly in Enstone and we really need to change our way of working in order to better develop our car. To be more agile, to be more effective.”

“There is a lot to do,” admits Famin. “We have started to make some changes in our technical organization, and my role is to put everything in place, to change what we need to change.”