Formula 1 News: Floundering Alpine team announces Org changes

The BWT Alpine F1 Team today announced a new three-pillared organizational approach throughout its technical teams.

The team has created three specialized technical roles: Technical Director (Performance), Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Technical Director (Engineering), replacing the previous structure of a singular Technical Director.

The decision comes after a period of disappointing results in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, where the team has fallen from finishing fourth in the 2022 Championship to sixth in 2023, missing several key targets in its ambitions to reach the front of the grid.

The team announces Joe Burnell as Technical Director (Engineering), David Wheater as Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Ciaron Pilbeam as Technical Director (Performance). The three will work closely together and report to Team Principal Bruno Famin, with immediate effect.

On a power unit side, the technical team in Viry is led by Technical Director (Power Unit) Eric Meignan who continues to work on the 2026 PU project. The team can also confirm the start of the tenures of Chief Operating Officers John Woods at Enstone and Audrey Vastroux at Viry-Chatillon to continue the development of the factories behind the Formula 1 project.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Technical Director Matt Harman and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer have chosen to leave the team to seek new challenges. The team thanks Matt and Dirk for their efforts at the team and wishes them the best in their future endeavors.

Bruno Famin, Team Principal: “We have decided to make these organizational 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 organization and people. The new three-pillared structure with three Technical Directors, each specializing 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.”