With Esteban Ocon-Pierre Gasly Civil War Generating a High Bill, Alpine F1 Undertake Emergency Mission

Emergency preparedness is a team sport. Otmar Szafnauer and Co. work together to recover from the expensive outing in Australia that lodged civil war-like conditions at Alpine. Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon’s shenanigans could’ve had a more deadly impact had the Chinese GP not been canceled. As Alpine deals with the Civil War at its hands, the team undertakes a critical task to overcome the setbacks. What are the setbacks and what emergency did it initiate?

The 2023 Australian GP is the race that nobody at Alpine would like to remember. There were some positives like Alpine’s race pace which helped them stick to the likes of Ferrari and Aston Martin. However, the one major incident took all the shine away from the positives. During the restart on Lap 57, the F1 race turned into a demolition derby. While the Alpines managed to avoid the Turn 1 mayhem, in an attempt to do so Pierre Gasly ran wide and when he joined back on track, he drove Esteban Ocon into the wall, ending the race for both Alpines.

Incidents are a part of the race and finishing out of points is still acceptable. However, in this budget cap era of F1, rebuilding two cars does pinch a lot. The crash left both cars wrecked. Otmar Szafnauer suggested that Baku is a street race with the walls up close. So it’s important to have additional spares available as the chances of a car demolishing crash are very high. While still recovering from Albert Park, Szafnauer explained how the three-week break was crucial for the development of spares. 

According to Speedcafe.com, Otmar Szafnauer said “It does seem that Baku always produces interesting racing and yes, there is more jeopardy because it’s a street race and some of the walls are pretty close.” Further adding, “The nice thing is we’ve got this three-week break to make some spares in order to be prepared for both the sprint race and the race in Baku. Hopefully, it’ll all be okay and we won’t suffer in Miami”

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The Alpine Team Principal hopes that his two drivers will stay from the walls in Baku, as Maimi GP is only a week away. However, looking at the bigger scheme of things, Alpine plans on bringing a reasonable upgrade for Azerbaijan to get ahead of those in front. 

Otmar Szafnauer reveals his expectations for the upcoming upgrades. 

Alpine was one of the best teams in terms of in-season development last year. Pat Fry suggests that the team is focusing on catching the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin with Red Bull being out of the picture. Szafnauer believes Alpine can bring the fight to those in front and that his team needs to out-develop them. The Alpine TP recently gave his insights on the upcoming upgrades.

According to Motorsport.com Otmar Szafnauer said, “We think we can fight with them. We too have a decent-size upgrade coming for Baku and then a little bit more only a week later in Miami, so we continue to push the upgrades out. We had good correlation last year and if that continues and if we continue to push the upgrades, we’ll take that development fight over the season to the others around us.”

Pat Fry seconded Szafnauer’s opinion and added, “We should have a reasonable step for Baku and then more coming through and I think for race six, there should be some reasonable steps going. A lot of the bits that we were hoping to get to Miami, they’re doing a great job at the factory and we managed to get those forward,”

Watch this story: Most Dangerous Crashes in F1 History

What do you make of the incident at Albert Park? Will the Alpine damage bill increase at Baku?