Alpine appoint David Sanchez as executive technical director

Leading engineer David Sanchez has joined Alpine as executive technical director a month after ending a short stint at McLaren.

The Frenchman left McLaren just three months after joining from Ferrari.

Sanchez was allowed to leave because he did not feel stretched in his role at McLaren, as its remit was smaller than he expected when he agreed to join.

At Alpine, Sanchez will have overall responsibility for the performance, engineering, and aerodynamic areas of the team. He will report to team principal Bruno Famin.

His appointment is an attempt to revitalise Alpine after a poor start to 2024 on the track – they are yet to score a point this season.

There has also been turmoil within the team with technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer both resigning from their roles, and engineer Bob Bell leaving to join Aston Martin.

Alpine is the name for Renault’s Formula 1 team, with the French car company choosing to use it to promote its niche lightweight sportscar brand.

It is a return to the Enstone organisation for Sanchez, who started his career in F1 as a junior aerodynamicist for Renault in 2005, the same year the team won both the drivers’ and constructors’ World Championships.

Famin said: “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.”

Sanchez said: “We have a big task ahead to improve on-track performance and it is this type of challenge that motivates me.”