Photo credits: BWT Alpine F1 Team
Alpine F1 Team’s Sporting Director, Alan Permane, reflected on a host of problems during an Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend which “snowballed out of control”.
There had been much anticipation over what the weekend would bring to Alpine after Melbourne’s double DNF for the team. However, the lasting image for many from Friday in Baku was Pierre Gasly’s Alpine A523 going up in flames. An image which could easily be a metaphor for what followed for the team over the rest of the weekend when nothing went right for them.
“I can’t compare this weekend to any other. Honestly, it’s been so frantic and fraught and difficult. It doesn’t feel like any other weekend,” stated Permane when speaking post-race in the paddock to media. His comments were in response to being asked to compare the events of Baku with previous sprint weekends. Permane also highlighted the importance of being able to “start off well prepared”.
Unfortunately, Pierre Gasly’s Free Practice timed hydraulic leak (which resulted in the previously mentioned engine fire) ensured that would not be possible. Alpine could not even look to the other side of the gararge for relief as Gasly’s fellow countryman and teammate Esteban Ocon had his own issues after a gearbox issue reduced his track time. Not the scenario Alpine could have imagined on such a condensed new format sprint weekend.
“You need to start off well prepared, and just have a smooth weekend. We had that with neither car in FP1. And it snowballed out of control from there,”
The drama continued on Friday with Pierre Gasly crashing at the start of qualifying and then a decision to remove Esteban Ocon’s car from parc ferme on Saturday due to plank concerns – which meant a pit lane start on Sunday’s race day.
All of this drama but still by the end of the weekend (and with so many points on offer) neither Alpine driver made it into the points. One positive though was that at least they saw the finish line this time.
Even so, it is now two races in a row that Alpine have concluded a race weekend ‘pointless’. The French manufacturer will surely be hoping for a far less frantic race in Miami this weekend and they know the importance of a strong start. The fact that it will be the usual FP1 to FP3 format should allow confidence to build with track running. Nevertheless, should there be further incidents of misfortune then the team P6 in the Constructors’ Championship may find itself looking over its back as opposed to targetting those in front. That would certainly be a far cry from the lofty heights of P4 achieved in the standings just last year.
