F1 team boss speaks out on team SALE ahead of new regulations

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F1 team boss speaks out on team SALE ahead of new regulations

The team still have high hopes despite a poor start to the season

Originally written by Tyler Rowlinson. This version is a translation.

Tuesday 16 April 2024 22:00

Alpine team principal Bruno Famin has high targets for his team, and has given his thoughts on the prospect of the team being put up for sale.

It has been a dismal start to the 2024 season for the French works manufacturer, who have only been able to get one car through to Q2 on two occasions in the opening four races – both coming from Esteban Ocon who qualified 15th in both Australia and Japan.

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The team currently sit rock bottom of the constructors’ standings with no points to their name, nowhere near where they expect to be.

Alpine finished fourth in 2022 and were hoping to break the top three – Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes – but instead they have plummeted down the order.

Esteban Ocon has achieved the team's highest qualifying position of 15th

Famin: We are not for sale

Speaking with the official F1 website, he said: “We have a real project with Alpine. “We have the project to develop the Alpine brand awareness globally through motorsport and Formula 1 in particular.

“We have the full support of the top management. The team is absolutely not for sale. We will keep pushing to reach our goals.”

“It’s not a fun period,” he added. “We are not where we want to be in terms of performance, we are not doing the project to be P15 or P16. We want to be ahead, we want to develop the performance of the car – and we want to fight for podiums and for victories as soon as possible.”

The team are aiming to be higher up the grid come 2026

Alpine are aiming to get back into the points in the short term. As the top five teams lock out the points-scoring positions more often than not, sixth the championship will be decided on smaller amounts, and the team are confident that they can recover with there still being 20 races to go.

But Famin reiterated that the team want to be challenging much further up the grid from when the new regulations are brought into F1 in 2026: “We want to be back on the first part of the grid for sure, to improve significantly our position.

“We know the major change in regulations is an opportunity to change the game. We want to seize that opportunity. That’s the goal.

“We want to make a significant step and find consistency, not to be one year fifth, one year seventh, one year sixth. Let’s get much closer to the biggest teams.”

Mercedes Esteban Ocon Bruno Famin