Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Hint: It does not involve Ryan Reynolds, at least directly
Things are never dull in Formula 1.
This was supposed to be a quiet week off, following a back-to-back in Austria and Britain, and ahead of another back-to-back in Hungary and the Netherlands. But a thunderbolt from the clouds came down on Monday, with the shocking news that Daniel Ricciardo was coming back to the grid.
After just ten races, AlphaTauri and Red Bull had seen enough from Nyck de Vries. The rookie was out, and Ricciardo was in, on loan to AlphaTauri starting with the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Still, with F1 on a bye week following the British Grand Prix it is time to take stock of just where each of the ten teams are ahead of Budapest. Working through the field from the bottom of the Constructors’ standings to the top, what is the biggest question facing each team right now?
Next up on our virtual gridwalk? Alpine.
Can they find any consistency?
Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Or perhaps the more accurate question: Can they find any luck?
Now admit, you were probably expecting something regarding Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, and Michael B. Jordan. Which, I understand. But the biggest question facing the team right now does not involve their new Hollywood owners, but rather consistency.
Or luck.
Because it seems bad luck has bitten Alpine at various points this season. A prime example comes from the Australian Grand Prix when both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were running in the points late in the race. But on a late-race restart, the two drivers collided, knocking them both out of the Grand Prix and out of the points.
This past weekend was another example, as Ocon retired early due to a failure, and Gasly finished well outside of the points when a collision with Lance Stroll damaged his suspension, causing an early retirement of his own.
As this was happening, McLaren was putting together their best weekend of the season, leapfrogging ahead of them in the Constructors’ Standings.
Making matters worse is that all of this is happening not just as new owners come aboard, but in a season that has already seen current CEO Laurent Rossi blast their early results, and put a ton of pressure on the team. Heading into the Miami Grand Prix, the pressure was mounting on Alpine to improve their form. Rossi, speaking with French outlet Canal+ ahead of qualifying on that Saturday, Rossi did not hold back in his assessment.
“It’s disappointing, it’s actually bad,” he said. “This year ended up starting with a flawed performance and flawed delivery. It’s obvious our position in the standings is not worthy of the resources we spend, and we are quite far – in fact very far – from this year’s end goal.”
Rossi was not done with his harsh assessment.
“I did not like the first grand prix, because there was a lot of – I’m sorry for saying this – amateurishness, which led to a result that wasn’t right. It was mediocre, bad,” said Rossi. “And the last race in Baku was tremendously similar to the one in Bahrain. That is not acceptable.”
And Rossi did not stop there.
“He is responsible for the performance of the team – that’s his job,” Rossi told Lawrence Barretto of F1 Unlocked during the Miami Grand Prix. “There is no hiding here. Otmar was brought in to steer the team, through the season and the next seasons towards the objectives that we have, which is to constantly make progress, as we did in the first two years – fifth and fourth – and to get to the podiums and therefore, this is his mission to turn this team around and bring it to the performance that we want.”
“We had a team that performed reasonably well last year, got the fourth position which is the best improvement we had in a long time. It showed a lot of promise. It’s more of less the same people so I don’t accept that we are not capable of maintaining that,” he added. “Yes, it is Otmar and the rest of his team as Otmar alone doesn’t do everything, but the buck stops with Otmar. It’s Otmar’s responsibility, yes.”
And if you thought that Rossi would recalibrate expectations, think again.
“It’s too early to do that – and I don’t want to give people the comfort,” he said. “I don’t enter a competition and reset my objective because it’s easier. The team managed to get fourth. They have the means to get fourth, more so than others. I want them to be fourth. If they don’t, it’s going to be a failure.
“If they fail by giving 500% best and turning this ship around, there will be extenuating circumstances and it bodes well for the future. If not, it’s the rule of business, there’s going to be consequences. And I won’t wait until the end of the year. The trajectory is not good. We need to fix the mindset of the team ASAP.”
Remember, this is what Rossi was saying back in May, before McLaren jumped ahead of them in the standings. This is when Alpine was sitting fifth in the standings.
Now they sit in sixth.
And while a podium did follow after Miami, as Ocon finished third in the Monaco Grand Prix, it is clear this is not where Alpine wants to be right now. The disastrous result at Silverstone was followed by news of another managerial shuffling, as the team’s F1 engine chief Bruno Famin was moved into a newly created role as VP of Alpine Motorsports. In that capacity he will serve as a liaison of sorts between Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer.
In describing the role to Motorsport, Famin outlined how the new position fits with Alpine’s dual goals of success in F1, and success writ-large.
“The change has nothing to do with the current situation with the F1 team. It has to do with the brand itself, and the ambitious goals we have in terms of developing the brand, in terms of new products, road cars, and in terms of new territories,” said Famin to Motorsport.
“We have made some big announcements with new investors, for example, and the brand and the company are developing very well and very fast.I think Laurent Rossi realised that he needed to be more dedicated to that path, even if he loves motorsport, and that is his priority.”
“The main difference will be that I will be 100% dedicated to the role [inside F1], and of course it will be much better for the projects,” he added.
“There is F1, of course, but in Le Mans and endurance, we do not develop an endurance programme to fight in the midfield. Like in F1, our goal is to fight for a win and to fight for the titles as soon as possible,” continued Famin. “It won’t be tomorrow in F1, of course, because we know that it is a big step. It is about the full picture, and the idea is we need to have somebody 100% dedicated to all those projects, including the young drivers, endurance racing, F1. It is to work more efficiently and to have more chance to reach our goals.”
Perhaps some better luck would help, but as is often the case, in sports you make your own luck.
Good … or bad.
