The Expectation for Alpine Entering the Australian Grand Prix

[Ledmonds2004]

The Alpine Formula One Team have a very interesting situation on their hands. While most teams in their position would struggle to find a driver to take charge in a midfield car, and rack up point, the French team actually have two. Esteban Ocon signed a 3-year contract in June of 2021, while Pierre Gasly, formerly of the Red Bull junior and senior program enters into his first year with the team. After an interest qualifying session in Bahrain, the pace of the car seemed to be unknown. It isn’t uncommon for a driver to struggle in their first timed session in a car, but the pace difference from Gasly and Ocon force us to wonder where the true pace really is, with Ocon finishing Q3 in P9 with a 1:30.984, and Gasly getting knocked out in Q1 with a 1:32.181. It has been in the days since the Williams team had both George Russel and Nicholas Latifi since such a large gap was formed from two teammates, but it was actually Gasly who came home to score points at the end of the race on Sunday with Ocon DNFing from a mechanical failure. It was once again a similar issue when we came to Jeddah with Esteban qualifying P7, and Gasly squeaking into Q3 by only .04 seconds to Hulkenburg in the Haas behind. It was both of the drivers who ended in the points at the end of this race though, P8 and P9. It obviously confusing to see where the real pace of this car is. Is it faster than the Haas and the Alfa Romeo? Is it better suited for a Sunday than a Saturday? Are we seeing from Gasly in his first season with the team what we saw from him during his time with the Red Bull senior team? The expectations are clear. Finish P5 in the constructors championship, but will Hulkenburg finally figure out his problems during the race and begin to chip at that lead, or will Zhou Guanyu finally start to pull his weight? A double points finish is the expectation… or atleast for now.

[Nitrodaze]

Well, they took each other out. They need to sit their drivers down and have a frank talk about corporation and team playing. Potential top ten finish for both cars was squandered unnecessarily.

[Ledmonds2004]

I truly believe that it was a racing incident. The pace that we saw from Gasly was immaculate, but that was thanks to the DRS that he was recieving for Carlos on pretty much all the laps. Once the restart happen, he was forced a little wide, and didn't see Esteban when he entered back on the track. It's a shame that their race ended in the way that it did, but I think it showed us a lot about the potential for the team during the season.

[Nitrodaze]

I truly believe that it was a racing incident. The pace that we saw from Gasly was immaculate, but that was thanks to the DRS that he was recieving for Carlos on pretty much all the laps. Once the restart happen, he was forced a little wide, and didn't see Esteban when he entered back on the track. It's a shame that their race ended in the way that it did, but I think it showed us a lot about the potential for the team during the season.

Yes, it was a racing incident. I am a fan Of Gzasly, l think he is a fantastic driver. Certainly better than the car he is driving. Accidents do happen, it just happened to be with his teammate. Though Gasly;'s body language seems to suggest that he blames Ocon for the accident, which of course is not the case. That aside, it was great to see that the Alpine has an inherent great pace. It is a good car which l think can get even better into the season.