Alpine facing fresh headache as F1 technical director and head of aero resign

The outfit has endured a challenging start to the campaign, with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly qualifying on the back row at the F1 season opener before finishing 17th and 18th.

But as well as the on-track difficulties, the French manufacturer is now facing the prospect of a major reshuffle of its technical department with the looming loss of technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer.

Sources have indicated that both men handed in their resignations last month before the team travelled to Bahrain.

While resignations of such senior figures often trigger an immediate move to gardening leave, it is understood that both men are continuing in their roles for the foreseeable future, with Harman present trackside in Bahrain.

There has been no official confirmation about the developments by Alpine though, with a team spokesman issuing a firm 'no comment' on the matter.

Alpine had been aware since the launch of its new A524 that it was going to face a difficult start to the season, with its car being both overweight and lacking aerodynamic performance.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

However, the deficit it is facing to its closest competitors left it trailing at the back in Bahrain.

The team is upbeat that developments are underway to help it move forward, as boss Bruno Famin made clear on Saturday that the focus was on finding what it needed to move forward.

"We knew the start of the season was going to be difficult and that has been the case in Bahrain," he said.

"That said, we are doing everything we can with what we have right now and we will keep finding improvements and making progress each time we are on track.

"Credit to the team and the drivers for their efforts here in Bahrain over the last couple of weeks. The togetherness of the team will shine through.

"Next week we go to Jeddah, a completely different track to Bahrain, which brings a new opportunity to keep learning and progressing our A524 package. The hard work will continue."