SANCHEZ JOINS ALPINE AS F1 TECHNICAL DIRECTOR AFTER MCLAREN EXIT
Ex-Ferrari engineer David Sanchez has joined Alpine’s Formula 1 team as executive technical director, following his departure from McLaren after just three months in his role.
Sanchez will report directly to team principal Bruno Famin in his new role, and will oversee the new three-pillar technical structure implemented at the Enstone team.
This means that the technical directors of each pillar: Ciaron Pilbeam of performance, Joe Burnell of engineering, and David Wheater of aerodynamics, will all report to Sanchez.
Sanchez left his role at McLaren just one month ago, having joined the Woking team in January, after finding that the performance role that he had been brought in to occupy had changed in almost a year’s gardening leave.
McLaren agreed to release the Frenchman to ensure he could find a more senior role, leading to Alpine securing his signature to help instigate a turnaround in fortunes.
“I am delighted that David is returning to Enstone where he started his career in 2005. This is an important appointment that will allow us to optimize everything as a team and focus on the right performance areas.”
Fahmin said. “It is clear that the performance of the car and the development process are not developing at a sufficient pace for our ambitions as a team.
We welcome David and look forward to working with him throughout our lifetime to achieve ultimate success. I look forward to working hard.”
Sanchez added: “I’m excited about this challenge at Alpine and I’m looking forward to working again at Enstone, where I started my F1 career.
“There have always been so many great people involved in this team and there is clearly so much potential that we can unleash.
We have a huge challenge ahead of us to improve our on-track performance. This kind of challenge is what keeps me going.”
“I am ready to get started and look forward to working with the Enstone Viry technical team again with the sole aim of returning this great team to regular success.”
Alpine has moved to a three-pronged technical set-up modeled after McLaren’s tuning after former technical director Matt Herman and aerodynamicist Dirk de Beer left the team following the introduction of this year’s A524 chassis.
. The team decided to pursue a new design concept with the new car, but pre-season testing found the car to be overweight and underpowered, leading to poor results in the first five races.