David Sanchez shares Alpine’s ‘number one issue’ that has to be solved this season

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It’s been a very frustrating campaign for the Alpine F1 team and widespread changes behind the scenes at the French team have thrown their long-term future into doubt.

The return to Flavio Briatore as an executive advisor to Renault CEO Luca de Meo has seen a team principal change already take place since his arrival.

It was announced at the Belgian Grand Prix that Bruno Famin would be replaced exactly 12 months after his predecessor Otmar Szafnauer lost his job with Alpine drifting into the midfield.

Things have got worse since then and it’ll be up to new team principal Oliver Oakes to try and turn things around.

One of the few positives from this season for Alpine is the arrival of David Sanchez from McLaren.

Sanchez was at Ferrari until the beginning of the 2023 season when it was announced he would join McLaren and was put on gardening leave for the year.

However, the move didn’t work out and just a few months later he left the Woking-based outfit to join Alpine.

Sanchez was speaking to Formu1a Uno about the challenges that have faced the French team this season.

He believes he has pinpointed the main issue they face with their cars although Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly have such different driving styles that perfecting a car for both drivers isn’t easy.

Alpine have been consistently inconsistent this year, struggling to get out of Q1 one week to challenging for points the next.

It’s something they’ll need to combat quickly and in order to do so they need to fix their downforce problems.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage

David Sanchez identifies the ‘number one issue’ Alpine have faced this season

Sanchez was asked whether Alpine’s latest update package was brought forward for Spa and he said: “I wouldn’t say it’s been rushed. But for sure, it’s been pushed very hard through the system.

“I think the number one issue is for everyone to find more downforce and try to eliminate some of the anomalies that we might see with the current car.

“So, this package is mainly intended for more downforce. So, this is a first step in the pipeline.

“We have another one that will be bigger and that will be the basis for next year.

“So, we will do more on this year’s car. We’ve been working on this one [for Spa] since day one. The other one is an extension, using a little bit more time to go further.”

Uncertain future faces Alpine with two potential teams circling

Alpine have told staff at the Enstone factory that they’re not for sale but signs are pointing towards Renault potentially not being completely invested in the Formula 1 project.

It appears as though Renault are looking to end work on their F1 power units which would be a unique scenery in the paddock.

Customer teams tend to want to have the control that comes with building all of their own parts, but Alpine appear happy to try and strike a deal with Mercedes to use their engines.

McLaren are benefitting from that relationship, although Williams are still one of the slowest cars on the grid despite their partnership.

Two teams are interested in potentially purchasing Alpine and it’ll be interesting to see how highly Renault value the F1 arm of their business.

Formula 1 is incredibly lucrative and it looks like teams are only going to grow in value the longer they’re on the grid.