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Alpine looks forward to the 2024 F1 season with bated breath. The team is coming off a rather poor showing in 2023. Multiple personnel were released mid-season, while quite a few left of their own accord. The resulting slump in performance left a lot to be desired moving forward.
The team came into 2023 as the 4th best team of the previous season. They ended the season 6th in the Championship and a fair distance behind the top 5. To add to this, respected personnel like Otmar Szafneur and Alain Permaine lost their place within the team.
Heading into the 2024 F1 season, the team will have a certain set of targets that it would want to accomplish. What are these targets? Let's take a look.
#1 Close the gap to top 5
Alpine switched focus to 2024 much earlier than quite a few teams in 2023. The team knew that the concept it had gone for was maybe not the best and hence limited in scope.
The challenge for the team is to find performance and start closing the gap to the front. Another misstep and the team could be in a position where it is one of the backmarkers. This is precisely what the team needs to avoid and what it will be focussing on this season.
#2 Secure one or both current drivers
Both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are out of their contracts at the end of this season. To add to this, the two drivers would have seen enough in 2023 to know that when an opportunity knocks on the door from a team at the front of the grid, they should take it.
Alpine had momentum in 2022, when Gasly was signed, and had momentum before that as well when Ocon was signed. That momentum is missing now. Looking at the car, it is safe to say that the team doesn't have enough leverage to keep their current drivers on long-term contracts. To add to this, it does appear that the team doesn't have many options available on the driver market.
In this scenario, the best thing for the team would be to continue with this lineup and try to get back to the levels of 2022.
#3 Secure the long-term future of Alpine
The team is not in good health at this stage. We don't mean that in terms of finance but in terms of personnel. Is Bruno Famin the man to lead Alpine into the 2024 F1 season and beyond? Or is there someone else that needs to take over?
These are the questions that need to be answered quickly before the team loses the confidence of a lot of people. 2024 has to be the season where the team sets the direction of what it wants to do in the future. It cannot have the incessant chopping and changing, instead a fixed path that takes the team forward. That has to be a major goal for the team this year.
