The Alpine team principal, Bruno Famin, announces he will quit the team following the 2024 Belgian GP as heads continue to roll following a shocking 2024 F1 season that sees the team eighth in the constructors’ championship.
The French outfit only have nine points on the board through 13 Grand Prix in 2024, despite possessing two highly talented Formula 1 race winners in the form of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.
Under Famin’s stewardship, which began on July 28, 2023, Alpine have managed to lose 38 points in the following 12 months and have slipped from sixth in the standings to be behind both Haas and RB.
“I will step down from the team principal role by the end of August,” Famin told members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com, as he sensationally announced his decision to quit Alpine. “Until then, I will be fully dedicated to the team for the duration of activities until the first of September.”
The news comes after a challenging first practice session at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, which saw Ocon lose an hour of running thanks to a water leak issue on his career as soon as the session began on Friday, July 26.
Meanwhile, Gasly could only find himself 11th fastest and 1.5 seconds off the pace of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull despite the world championship leader appearing to be running a lower engine mode on his car.
More from the Singapore GP
Catch up with Total Motorsport's latest Singapore GP coverage, including Max Verstappen's victory at Marina Bay, Ferrari's costly strategy gamble, the full race classification, and the updated 2026 Formula 1 Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings.
Who will replace Bruno Famin as he quits Alpine?
As a result of the poor form, he will be booted out of the role by Luca de Meo as the Renault CEO continues his chaotic, and failing, hire-and-fire policy with the aim of fast-tracking to good F1 results.
It’s currently unknown who will replace him as team boss but there are strong candidates on the market such as Flavio Briatore, Andreas Seidel and Franz Tost, whilst internally, David Sanchez could step into the role despite currently serving as the team’s executive technical director.
Famin calms buyer worries
Alpine, with deeply established roots in F1 and the motorsport community thanks to their factories in France and in Enstone, are an attractive prospect for those bidding to buy their way into the sport such as Andretti.
So with another boss quitting, it could cause alarm to shareholders and investors, but also to people looking to provide the team with engines such as Mercedes. However, the out-going Famin reassured that his departure is “complex” but not intrinsically connected to the Alpine project.
“I think the story of this team is quite complex,” Famin added to media. “Everybody knows it more or less, has its ups-and-downs, stop-and-go and I think it’s very difficult to try to build something out together like that.
“But I think during the last year, I think we made quite a lot of good progress trying to find this advantage, because I think it was an advantage to be able to do both and to make it work.
“I think the reason is very complex and is located in the complex history of the team, but it has nothing to do with the project which has been presented to very people.”
