While former team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane both reckoned that it would realistically take a few more years for the Enstone-based squad to hit its victory targets, the French car manufacturer’s senior management believed it could be done quicker.
It was this disconnect of timeline and ambition that ultimately saw Alpine pull the trigger and part ways with both men after the Belgian Grand Prix.
But while Alpine may feel there is potential to get to the front by 2024, or 2025 at the latest, rivals are more sceptical about teams being able to make that kind of performance transformation so quickly.
For however much Aston Martin was able to make a leap last winter, and McLaren deliver an impressive jump during this season, the reality is that the evolution of those changes goes back at least two or three years.
At Aston Martin, it was the arrival of Lawrence Stroll in delivering ambition and vision that set in motion the aggressive investment and recruitment that has helped haul it towards the front of the grid.
And McLaren has undergone some pretty extensive changes too, as CEO Zak Brown tasked current team principal Andrea Stella several years ago to put in place a technical organisation that played to the strengths of the current regulations.
While Alpine has just got rid of its top staff, the common theme to Aston Martin and McLaren is of strong leaders getting their elbows and chequebooks out, empowering the F1 team to get on and do its job; and then not meddling because outside company ambitions were not aligned.
Source: Autosport