The Penalty nightmare for Alpine, which saw Esteban Ocon become a subject of FIA scrutiny, began before the race of the Bahrain Grand Prix with the other Frenchman of the French team, Pierre Gasly. The ex-AlphaTauri driver, who already has a deadly threat looming over his head, was caught speeding in the pit lane and the officials handed him a financial penalty. This set in motion the worst start for Alpine, and thus an unwanted love story with the sanctions began.

The new recruit at Alpine, Pierre Gasly, had the worst qualifying session for the first race of the season. From exceeding the track limits resulting in the deletion of lap time placing him 20th on the starting grid to him getting caught speeding in the pit lane. However, worse than starting 20th on the grid would have been being handed penalty points. And as the steward’s books hold, Gasly sits at the top of the penalty points tally. He is at the highest risk of getting a race ban if the saga at Alpine continues for further races.

The mandated speed limit in the pitlane stands at 80 KMPH. Sadly, the speed of Gasly’s vehicle, which sent the alert to Steward’s room, stood at 80.6KMPH. But a breach, however minor, is still a breach. Perhaps that is why he was only let off with a token fine amounting to 100 euros or 107 dollars.

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While Gasly narrowly escaped a harsh penalty and even ended up gaining 11 positions in the race, his teammate wasn’t as lucky.

Teammate of Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon endured a nightmare

Bahrain Grand Prix became a race to forget for the veteran of the French team, Esteban Ocon. FIA handed him a 5-second penalty for lining up incorrectly in his grid box. He went to the pit to serve the sentence when they gave him another 10-second penalty for serving the previous one incorrectly. Later, officials handed a record-equaling third penalty to him for replicating his teammate, i.e. speeding in the pitlane. It was a domino effect that plagued Ocon.

After the race, Ocon explained his stance to the media. He said, “Four other cars were also too far ahead. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. I was the most crooked, that’s clear, but I wasn’t the only one.” [translated via Google Translate]

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What are your predictions for the French team Alpine for the 2023 campaign? Do you think they can still hold their title of the best of the rest?