Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images
For the second straight week, Alpine found themselves out of the points
After the first two races of the 2023 Formula 1 season, it looked like Alpine had something for the rest of the field to contend with. Pierre Gasly finished ninth in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, and the came away with double points in Jeddah, as Gasly finished P9 and teammate Esteban Ocon finished P8 in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Since then, it has been nothing but heartbreak for the Alpine duo. The pair crashed into each other near the end of the Australian Grand Prix, knocking them both out of the points. Then in last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ocon was forced to start from pit lane after making late adjustments to his A523, and a strategic gamble on tyre strategy failed to pay off, as a second safety car never arrived, and Ocon was forced to pit before the final lap, giving up ninth on the track. He finished in 15th.
That was still one spot ahead of Gasly, who endured a brutal weekend in Baku. His A523 suffered a leak during Friday’s practice session, and Gasly was forced to retire the car. The leak led to a fire, and with just hours before qualifying for the Grand Prix, the team worked against the clock to repair the damage.
Alpine succeeded to get Gasly’s car ready for qualifying, but the driver put his A523 into the wall in Q1, knocking him out almost immediately.
“Obviously, it’s been a very disappointing and tough day. I’d like to say a big thanks to the mechanics for their recovery between Practice and Qualifying to make the changes and have the car ready. It’s been one of those days where we’ve faced setbacks and it’s important we all bounce back,” said Gasly on Friday. “My mind is already looking ahead to tomorrow where we have another Qualifying session and, of course, the Sprint Race where points are on offer. We’ll debrief as a team, move forwards together and hopefully take something from this race weekend.”
Saturday’s Sprint Shootout offered little reprieve for the team, and Gasly in particular. Ocon qualified 13th for the Sprint race, but the team decided to make alterations to his A523, meaning he would start from pit lane. He ultimately finished in 18th position.
As for Gasly, he endured another failure, as his A523 suffered another leak, ending his qualifying session in SQ1. He started in 19th position and actually made up some ground on the track, coming across the line 13th.
Still, making up four spots on the track — the most of any driver in the Sprint race — was little solace for Gasly.
“It was important for us to have a clean run in today’s Sprint Race after what has been a very challenging weekend for the team up to this point. We were on the backfoot this morning with an issue in the Sprint Shootout, but I’m pleased that we completed some laps in the Sprint Race to gain a handful of positions. We needed to do some learning and I think we have some ideas on what we can do tomorrow in the main race,” said Gasly on Saturday. “We’ll keep working hard together as a team and see what decisions we take in order maximise our chances tomorrow. I believe we have a quick race car and I’m aiming for the top ten to take some points from this tricky weekend.”
However, points would not be in the cards. Now Gasly, Ocon, and team are looking to turn things around in Miami.
“This is a weekend all of us are keen to quickly move on from as it’s been a very frustrating one for all of us at the team. We have to make sure this kind of performance is not repeated again. Clearly, it is not where we should be and we need to come back stronger for Miami next week on a more conventional track,” said Gasly following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “In terms of my race, we tried something different on strategy and hoped for some fortune, but in the end, we couldn’t do much more. I made a couple of moves, that’s always satisfying, but it’s much more rewarding when those overtakes are for points. I’m looking forward to racing in Miami next weekend.”
Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer was rather blunt in his post-race assessment.
“It’s been a bitterly disappointing weekend for the team in Baku and we must not repeat this type of performance again. We very much started on the backfoot on Friday and since then we were not able to make any kind of recovery in any of the sessions,” said Szafnauer on Sunday. “We were quite far off on car set-up on Friday during practice and with such limited running – notably with some reliability issues on both cars – we left ourselves with a mountain to climb for the remainder of the weekend. We must limit these problems going forward and begin all Grand Prix weekends on the front-foot to make sure we give ourselves the best possible chance on Saturday and Sunday to score points.”
Still, there is hope for better results down in Miami. The layout of the Miami International Autodrome, with its straights and more medium-speed corners, poses an opportunity for Alpine to bounce back. Gasly struggled in the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, making contact with Fernando Alonso early in the race, and then knocking into Lando Norris later in the race, before retiring. Ocon, however, finished eighth in the 2022 Miami Grand Prix, a solid first run on the track.
Szafnauer is hoping that Miami offers a chance to turn around what has been a tough two races.
“We demonstrated our race pace in Australia and we have a better chance to validate our upgrade package in Miami. We must keep working hard as a team, keep up our understanding of how to maximise the most from our package and target a much-improved overall team performance next weekend Stateside.”
