Alpine have announced that technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer have resigned their positions with the team, after the first round of the 2024 F1 season.
The team have with it confirmed a significant change to their organisational structure as a result, taking a similar approach to McLaren by splitting the role of technical director into three moving forward.
In announcing the departures of Harman and De Beer, Alpine confirmed that the role of technical director would have three ‘pillars’ moving forward, with Joe Burnell announced as the team’s new Technical Director (Engineering), David Wheater as Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Ciaron Pilbeam as Technical Director (Performance).
All three will report directly to team principal Bruno Famin, and this change comes just one round into the season – with Alpine having started 2024 with seemingly the least competitive car on the grid.
Rumours began swirling in Bahrain that Harman had been set to resign his position after the team’s tough start to the year, and this has now come to pass as the team have struggled to get off the mark.
Their three-pronged approach to the technical director role was first adopted by McLaren and has been put to good use, with the team having surged forward in competitiveness – and Alpine will hope this structure has the same effect moving forward.
“We have decided to make these organisational changes as we can clearly see that we are not where we want nor need to be in terms of performance level and it is time to take another step in terms of organisation and people,” Alpine team principal Famin said.
“The new three-pillared structure with three Technical Directors, each specialising in different areas, will bring better work and collaboration across our technical areas and contribute to delivering performance from the factories to the race track.
“I trust fully in the abilities of Joe, David and Ciaron to work closely together in bringing the team the performance and improvements that it needs.
“Finally, I would like to thank Matt and Dirk for their efforts over the last couple of years at the team and wish them the very best in the next chapter of their careers.”
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly both started on the back row of the grid in the Bahrain Grand Prix, and crossed the line 17th and 18th respectively on Saturday.
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