After appearing to have recovered and shown signs of growth after the first third of the season, the Alpine team struggled to reach the points zone, with the last top ten dating back to Zandvoort, with a ninth place scored by Pierre Gasly. However, already since the British Grand Prix the French team seems to have entered a difficult period, also thanks to the fact that not many updates have arrived.
In fact, while many teams brought substantial packages both before the break and upon returning from the summer break, Alpine was not as active on the development front, especially because it concentrated much of its efforts at the beginning of the championship. Not having even a spare chassis due to the accumulated delays, the transalpine team had concentrated its efforts by accelerating the times, in order not only to have a spare body, but also a lighter car, recovering those kilos accumulated in winter when we chose to change the concept.
It is no mystery, in fact, that in the first half of the championship Gasly and Ocon alternated on the heavier chassis but, more generally, behind the scenes there was a lot of work to smooth out those weight and aerodynamic problems which, in the first races, had led the A524 sadly to fight for the last rows. The problem is that, however, the first appointments of the season were used to analyze what the problems were, which slowed down all the work.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
A job that, in fact, had paid off because, between Miami and Austria, Alpine had scored points in five out of six races, sometimes even with both cars.
“We know that between now and the end of the year we expect new things to come. I think what surprised us a little is that after Spa and Zandvoort, hoping to survive, this series of races was more or less what we expected , but I think what you actually see is that we’re a little bit out of sync with the others,” said Team Principal Oliver Oakes, who took over at the helm in recent weeks.
“We were slow to bring what we brought from the beginning of the season and then we found ourselves a little out of sync when the others brought something halfway through the championship. I hope that between now and the end of the year we will at least be able to demonstrate that we still have performances to unlock”. To give an idea, Haas brought a substantial package right to Great Britain and a new front wing after the break, while Williams has evolved a good part of its car in the last few GPs. Alpine had brought some innovations to Spa, but they were not enough to make a leap in quality.
The drivers know well which areas need to be addressed: over the course of the season the A524 suffered understeer problems several times, as well as a lack of traction, an issue which was seen very clearly both in the Baku stage and in Singapore. Added to this is another interesting aspect, namely the fact that the car continues to show bouncing problems, as seen in Monza, which weighs heavily on the drivers’ confidence in the middle of the corner, also when returning to the accelerator to prepare the ‘exit.
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“Gasly told me a lot about what’s wrong with the car at the moment. And I have to say that both riders are pushing hard because ultimately they have a lot of experience. Both have demonstrated in F1 that they know how to develop a car. And I think, actually, we will have to give them a better car,” added the Team Principal.
As for the potential unlocked by the upcoming updates, Oakes explained that, in any case, caution is needed, because during the year multiple teams have shown that they have encountered difficulties in making the new packages work, even having to go back: “Some made great strides this year, others made some that didn’t work.”
“I think we just have to see how the new updates perform at the end of the day. I don’t think it’s as simple as saying ‘you know a number of what you hope to bring’. At the end of the day, it also has to translate to the track. I think the battle in the middle of the pack is quite close and there are some oscillations,” added Oakes, mentioning how fundamental it is that the innovations translate from the wind tunnel to the track.
As executive technical director David Sanchez explained before the summer break, Alpine was planning a substantial update for the A524 for the final stages of the current season, which will however also form the basis of its 2025 car.
#Alpine #news #double #objective #set