As Formula 1 departed from a wet and windy Brazilian Grand Prix, the forecast was looking decidedly brighter for one team in particular, with Alpine's cargo including two podium trophies.
In a season which has seen Renault planning to pull out of its F1 engine programme, its drivers colliding in Monaco and another change of team principal, Alpine was finally able to toast a fine effort in Sao Paulo.
The Enstone squad had been languishing towards the foot of the constructors’ championship, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly struggling to make inroads into the points-paying positions the likes of RB and Haas were securing more frequently.
A handful of ninth places had been the best to show for a year which threatened to leave Alpine down the back of the grid and staring at a black hole in the revenue stream secured by its on-track performance.
Changing fortunes
While the team made no secret of its low expectations at the unveiling of its A524 challenger, locking out the back row at the season-opening race in Bahrain was not where it had hoped to be.
Technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer both departed, while the return of former team principal Flavio Briatore in an advisor capacity was met with a mixed reception in the paddock after his role in the 2008 Singapore GP 'crashgate' scandal.
The nadir of the season came in Monaco, where Ocon took responsibility for colliding with team-mate and fellow Frenchman Gasly as the pair came out of Portier. Gasly would go on to claim a point but the damage was done. Ocon was soon signing for Haas from 2025, with rookie Jack Doohan set to replace the 2021 Hungarian GP winner next year.
Meanwhile, a new team principal in the shape of 36-year-old Oliver Oakes was installed, his predecessor Bruno Famin having announced at the Belgian Grand Prix in August that he would be stepping down to focus on Alpine's World Endurance Championship programme among other motorsport activities.
Battling towards the wrong end of the championship, Ocon was even tasked with pitting for softs in the closing stages of the Singapore Grand Prix to steal the fastest lap point from Franco Colapinto as Alpine looked set to tussle for the minor places with Williams.
But then came the Brazilian Grand Prix and, with the rain, a complete change in fortune for Alpine, Oakes having slowly overseen an upturn in performances that finally led to a much-improved result.
Ocon came home second and Gasly third, only the all-conquering Red Bull of Max Verstappen bettering the Alpines in Sao Paulo as the team secured a 33-point haul that catapulted it up to sixth in the standings.
Now three points clear of Haas and five ahead of RB, Alpine is where it felt it should be this season, its current total of 49 points a fairer reflection on what the team were aiming for at this stage.
Pre-season planning
In its three previous seasons under the Alpine banner, the team had finished fifth, fourth and sixth in the constructors’ championship. Autosport understands those results led the team to predict a similar finishing position this year, and estimated its spend accordingly by cutting its cloth for another season firmly in the midfield.
The competitive nature of F1, particularly in that congested midfield area, means a window has to be considered when plotting a potential finishing position, with that fourth to sixth territory believed to have once again been the ambition for Alpine.
Haas and RB have also been taking points in recent races but if Alpine can keep its rivals at bay, it can use the $30million increase from moving from ninth to sixth at one grand prix in a number of ways.
Reinvestment
It is believed the primary plan would be to pour the increased revenue straight back into car performance and funding upgrades in the hope of ensuring regular points-scoring finishes in 2025.
A crossover point will come at some stage next year when focus will be turned solely to the new regulations from 2026 and once again, an injection of extra revenue would only help if it were added to the budget for the next era of F1 car design.
Improvements and developments are also being made – and planned - to the team’s Enstone base.
Alpine has several planning applications either approved or proposed, with the latest lodged last month for a workshop extension for the wind tunnel building. Consent has already been granted for other works to be carried out to areas including the R&D facility.
The planning statement from October said the aim was “to ensure that they [Alpine] are able to continue to compete with the largest teams in Formula 1.”
While it is understood investment into the team’s headquarters is seen as secondary to any spending on car performance, those projects could also directly benefit from the potential increase in revenue following the strong result in Sao Paulo.
Relieving pressures
A $30million influx is a lot of cash to be burning a hole in a team’s pocket but, in the cost-cap era where the world championship as a whole is financially sustainable, that extra money would leave Alpine less reliant on shareholders - or the Renault Group - to invest.
The figure would go a long way to making the team self-sufficient with the sporting success itself paying for the team, while the need to increase its attractive sponsorship portfolio would also lessen.
That portfolio, according to Spomotion Analytics’ Formula 1 Partnership Network Report, is already “one of the broadest - in terms of countries - in Formula 1”.
The report also concludes that Alpine has “one of the most versatile networks” with 13 countries represented among its 36 partners in total for 2024, more than 40% of which have been with the team for the last five years.
The additional revenue from on-track performance would mean the strong sponsorship pool does not have to be diluted in a bid to recoup any winnings the team had predicted at the start of the year.
In the current era of F1, finishing anywhere in the bottom five places in the constructors’ championship does not mean a team would have to worry about its immediate future but the higher the position, the more a team is able to relieve pressure and become less reliant on other revenue streams.
The potential leap in prize money would give Alpine that luxury at a time when it looks set to become a customer team from 2026. That is already a year when F1 could be turned on its head when the new regulations arise, not to mention having to purchase its engines, a cost which has not had to be factored in during the Renault era.
Oakes was keen to play down Alpine storming up the constructors table in Brazil, instead focusing on “just a great result for the team” that “helps us to keep the confidence going”. But if that seven-figure sum drops into the coffers come the end of the year, results and confidence could both receive a boost of funding, too.
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