The comparison with 2023 risks being a boulder
The 2023 edition of Australian Grand Prix It was very particular, with three standing starts in total and a race dynamic that led the group to be compact and manage the hard tires fitted earlier than expected due to a Safety Car. In this score Pierre Gasly with the Alpine 2023 remained for dozens of laps in the DRS zone against the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz who in turn had Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes and Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin in front of him in the DRS 'train'.
Also in 2022 the Alpine especially in Qualifying he had shown that he could even dream of the front rows – Fernando Alonso then had a technical problem in Q3 – the problem is that these premises risk further exaggerating the crisis in which Alpine finds itself at the beginning of 2024 in which Ocon and Gasly were both eliminated in Q1 in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Gasly then had to raise the white flag immediately in Jeddah due to a gearbox problem (his 'desperate' request via radio to do at least a few laps is the manifesto of the tunnel in which the Transalpine team is located).
We will find out whether Melbourne will be a cure for the ills of Alpine 2024 starting from the night between Thursday and Friday when the first two free practice sessions will take place: “We knew it would be a complicated start – has explained Pierre Gasly – now in Melbourne we have another opportunity to try to understand what we have in our hands regarding the car. I spent several days in Enstone together with the engineers over these two weeks and we reflected on where we can improve. We are all determined to redeem ourselves.”
According to Ocon, the points zone is not unattainable as Haas demonstrated in Jeddah: “Saudi Arabia was proof that by exploiting every opportunity you can get the upper hand in a grid where performances are truly compact in the middle of the pack – has explained Esteban Ocon – we must be sure to offer our best. Anything can happen in Melbourne, the asphalt has some depressions and in terms of weather you can see all four seasons in a single day”.
#Australian #Alpine #big #teams #crisis
