F1 Suzuka, Alpine disaster: “The contact at the start took away our downforce”

by VALERIO BARRETTA

Alpine, Famin blames the contact at the start

Overtaken by everyone on the straight, grumpy in the corners and with two drivers who exude nervousness in every team radio: on the circuit that best of all indicates a first hierarchy in Formula 1, Alpine was the worst of the ten teams. The management chaos that Enstone has been experiencing since the summer of 2022 has had evident cascading repercussions now on the track, and now team principal Bruno Famin and the team just have to pick up the pieces.

Ocon's words

At Alpine the lack of competitiveness of the A524 is not hidden but for today's horrendous performance a contact at the start between Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly is also blamed: “Today was not an easy race. We took some damage at the start and then tried different strategic options to have a fighting chance. But, in the end, today we weren't fast enough to compete with those around us and to keep them behind after the restart. It was a shame to take some damage, but I don't think it made a huge difference in the general framework of the competition. We struggled with race pace compared to qualifying, so we have a lot to review and hopefully we can come back stronger at the next race in Shanghai“, this is Ocon's comment.

Gasly's words

“Unfortunately it was a long afternoon for us in Suzuka. There are some positives, including two very good starts. In the second, after the red flag, I overtook the Haas, then Esteban and then joined Tsunoda. At that point, I was caught between the two in an unfortunate racing incident. I took significant bottom damage, costing me about 30 points of downforce“Gasly added. “From that moment on it was a very difficult race, there wasn't much we could do other than push as hard as we could. It's not where we'd like to be, but it's good to have made the first updates to the car this weekend. We must continue to develop the concept and bring spare parts as soon as possible, if we need them, to improve our current position“.

Famin's words

“Our race was compromised by the damage suffered by both cars on their second standing start in a racing accident. Both cars suffered a significant loss of downforce, which cost us performance and lap times. Despite this, we lack pace and need to continue to improve in all areas and make updates to the car“.