Alpine has had a dismal start to the 2024 season with just one point scored in the opening eight races. A lot of it has to do with the internal instability within the management, which continues to undergo changes, nearly a year after former Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer was sacked. As per David Croft, however, the Enstone-based team’s main problems stem from a lack of funding. With the right investment, Alpine can get its F1 project back on track.
Croft’s comments come less than a year after a Ryan Reynolds-backed consortium invested $220 million into the team. It even helped them cross the $1 billion mark in valuation.
However, Croft feels that the French outfit doesn’t receive a big cash injection; certainly not an amount big enough to run a works team. “I don’t think they receive similar levels of investments as say, Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes do,” said the F1 commentator on a Sky Sports podcast.
Szafnauer, who was their team principal, thought he would steer Alpine to glory. But since his sacking at the 2023 Belgian GP weekend, there has been a mass exodus of key personnel – hinting at an inner meltdown.
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Months after the American boss left, their sporting director Alan Permane and Chief Technical Officer Pat Fry also departed Enstone.
Alpine looking for the ‘right investment’ within the F1 grid
Internally, the departures at Alpine were being labeled as “organizational restructuring”. But the signs are ominous about the stable being largely unsettled and vulnerable. Current Team Principal Bruno Famin has a huge job on his hands and things aren’t looking too promising for the Frenchman.
The turmoil has directly contributed to poor results on the track. Their challenger – the A542 – is arguably their most cumbersome creation since the onset of the ground-effect era in 2022. The solitary point they earned came in Monaco two weeks ago, And it puts them P9 in the standings, miles behind where they want to be.
Amidst this, Alpine will lose another key figure come the end of the season in driver Esteban Ocon. Croft, however, feels that Alpine will be looking for the ‘right investment’ by replacing the 27-year-old.
