“Bitterly disappointing,” Otmar Szafnauer bemoans Alpine’s misfortune at the Azerbaijan GP

Alpine scored a total of eight points in the first four rounds of the 2023 season.

“Bitterly disappointing,” Otmar Szafnauer bemoans Alpine’s misfortune at the Azerbaijan GP

Esteban Ocon & Pierre Gasly. Image via The Mirror.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a weekend to forget for Alpine. The first challenge was on Friday. There was a fire on Pierre Gasly’s car. The team hoped to have a better weekend. They wanted to analyze their new floor update. Unfortunately, they were swamped with engine swaps, crash repairs, set-up changes, etc. Gasly and teammate Esteban Ocon left the Grand Prix without scoring any points. 

Alpine’s problem started on Friday. A hydraulic leak triggered an engine fire on Gasly’s car. He also crashed at the start of qualifying. Ocon’s Friday was no better. He had a gearbox issue which did not help his practice session. All this happened on an important weekend for Alpine. The team brought updates to its A523. They hoped to close the gap to its rivals.

YouTube video

Team boss Otmar Szafnauer reflected on the disappointing weekend. He stated, “It’s been a bitterly disappointing weekend in Baku and we must not repeat this type of performance again. We very much started on the backfoot on Friday and since then we were not able to make any kind of recovery in any of the sessions.” He elaborated on Alpine’s unfortunate sessions. 

FS Video

Related: Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez? Supercomputer predicts the 2023 F1 world champion

Alpine will give themselves the best chance to score points in the upcoming races

Q 1682941547
(Image via Motorsport.com)

Szafnauer added, “We were quite far off on car set-up on Friday during practice, and with such limited running – with some reliability issues on both cars – we left ourselves with a mountain to climb for the remainder of the weekend. We must limit these problems going forward and begin all weekends on the front foot to make sure we give ourselves the best possible chance to score points.”

Alpine are sixth in the Formula 1 constructors championship. They collected only eight points from the first four races of the season. However, the team is hopeful. The team boss believes Alpine had a good race pace in Australia. He hopes they get a chance to validate their new update in Miami this weekend. The team wants to work hard and understand how to maximize their package.

The French outfit wants to improve its overall performance in the upcoming Miami Grand Prix. It is understood that the team will head straight to work on Tuesday morning. They want to recover from the disappointing weekend in Azerbaijan. Alpine had plenty of work to do due to Gasly’s engine change. They worked hard throughout the weekend, but it was in vain. However, there are 19 races left to go. The team can turn things around. 

In case you missed it: