Alpine recruits Sanchez to lead technical team following McLaren exit

David Sanchez, who left McLaren last month after joining them at the beginning of the year, has joined Alpine as its executive technical director.

The hiring bolsters Alpine’s technical division which has been hit by a series of departures in the last 12 months, notably since the team’s poor start to the season.

The team’s point-less start to 2024 led team principal Bruno Famin to reorganise its technical department into three area. The managers of those divisions will now report to Sanchez, who previously worked at the team from 2005-07, when it competed as Renault.

“This is a key appointment to ensure we are optimising everything we do as a team and focusing on the right performance areas,” said Famin. “It is clear that the performance of the car and development path has not moved at a sufficient pace relative to our ambitions as a team. We look forward to welcoming David and working hard together to achieve the ultimate success.”

McLaren hired Sanchez from Ferrari last year as it moved to reorganise its technical department. However following his arrival in January the team and Sanchez decided the role he took over did not match what they originally envisaged, and he left three months later.

Sanchez, who begins work at Alpine today, said he was pleased to return to the team where he began his F1 career.

“This team has always had so many fantastic people involved and there is clearly so much potential to unlock. We have a big task ahead to improve on-track performance and it is this type of challenge that motivates me.”

Sanchez joins following the departures of technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer in March. Alpine also lost its former chief technical officer Pat Fry last year.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free