Alpine claims it will never beat Red Bull if it copies the reigning world champions

Alpine will not copy Red Bull's design philosophy to make gains in 2024.

Alpine claims it will never beat Red Bull if it copies the reigning world champions

Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Alpine's Pierre Gasly (Via IMAGO)

Red Bull dominated the 2023 Formula 1 season. The Austrian team was miles ahead of the competition the past season with a record-breaking run courtesy of Max Verstappen‘s nineteen race wins. Red Bull’s rivals have drawn inspiration from the RB-19 to make progress for next season. However, Alpine F1 Technical Director Matt Harman believes that it would not help the French team win.

Harman made it clear that the Enstone-based team understood the developments made by its rivals including Red Bull this season. Although Alpine cannot switch development paths overnight as it would not yield results. Ultimately, Matt Harman reckoned that if the French team followed the Austrian team, it would fail to ever get ahead of them in the future.

In the end, if we just follow those people, we will never be in front of them.
Matt Harman told Autosport

The Alpine Technical Director recognized that the team could take ideas from Adrian Newey’s design team at Milton Keynes. However, Harman made it clear that the Enstone-based squad would need to find its own pathway if it wanted to conquer the pinnacle of motorsport. Rather than simply mimicking Red Bull’s design concept.

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I think it's a real mantra for us that we need to be inspired by these people, but we need to follow our own way.

Alpine needs to make progress in 2024

Alpine seemed to be in no man’s land in 2023. The French team fell behind the likes of Aston Martin and McLaren, let alone Red Bull while it was comfortably ahead of Williams and AlphaTauri. This was a disappointing result for the Enstone-based team. Subsequently, a major management shake-up took place at the Renault works team.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon at the Mexican GP
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon at the Mexican GP (image via IMAGO)

For the upcoming F1 season, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will be looking to fight for more podiums. The French pairing managed to get only a couple of top 3 results the past season. Alpine would need to make significant progress after failing to meet its 100-race target to become a front-runner in Formula 1.

Certainly, the 2024 season would be crucial for the French squad. Alpine will be aiming to match rivals such as Aston Martin and Ferrari at the upper half of the pecking order. However, it would be a tough task as the competition has been working extensively over the winter. Fans would be looking forward to seeing how things pan out this year.

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