Alpine announced this Friday (15) the hiring of another key figure for the 2026 Formula 1 season. Jason Somerville arrives as deputy technical director to strengthen the technical leadership in the championship.
Read more F1: Verstappen still faces challenge and remains in the fight for pole at Nurburgring
Jason starts already on May 15 and will report directly to executive technical director David Sanchez.
This marks the return of the executive to the Enstone team, where he worked between the 2010 and 2011 seasons in the aerodynamic department. Before, he was at Williams in 1999 before joining Toyota in 2003, climbing the ranks until becoming responsible for the team’s aerodynamics.
After his two years with the Enstone team, he returned to Williams in a leadership role, leading the aerodynamics department before starting to work with FOM [Formula One Management] with the responsibility of developing the 2022 technical regulations.
Still in 2022, he went to the FIA also involved with aerodynamics, always seeing various regulation cycles with the aim of improving the racing spectacle.
Read more F1: Alpine comments on rumors of Gucci sponsorship
The new deputy technical director position was created to further strengthen the group of designers and aerodynamicists of the BWT Alpine Formula One Team, as well as to continue the team’s performance recovery process in this new era of Formula 1.
Jason Somerville celebrated the return to Enstone and highlighted the motivation to return to the competitive environment of Formula 1. “I am very excited to return to Enstone and work with Flavio, Steve, and David in this new role. It has been a few years since I was away from the competitive side of motorsport within a team, so I am looking forward to returning to the intense routine, chasing thousandths and fighting with our rivals for points and, hopefully, trophies,” he said.
“I am eager to start and join this excellent group of engineers, designers, and aerodynamicists at the factory, contributing to the team’s future achievements in the near future,” he added.
Executive technical director David Sanchez highlighted the experience of the new technical reinforcement as an important step for the team’s evolution. “We are very pleased to have someone of Jason’s level and experience to continue our progress. The work done by the team this season has already been extraordinary, but we know this is just the beginning and no one is complacent. Adding Jason to our technical team will allow us to take more steps towards performance improvement in this intense development race of modern Formula 1,” he said.
Read more F1: Juncadella takes Verstappen’s place in Top Qualifying 3 at Nurburgring
