Alpine Pre-Season Testing: What we learned from Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon’s A522 runs in Bahrain
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Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso
Alpine F1 team is entering its second season in the sport with the same squad as 2021- the experienced and two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso and the young and last year Hungary GP winner Esteban Ocon.
The drivers and the team looked more satisfied with their progress in Bahrain after a below-par testing round in Barcelona, which ended prematurely on Day 3 after the car caught fire with Fernando Alonso on the wheel. Esteban Ocon, on the second day in Bahrain confidently, as quoted by grandprix247, said, “Today was our best day of pre-season testing so far with very good progress made and good understanding gained on the Alpine A522.”
Fernando Alonso’s lap timings and laps completed
The two-time champion, Fernando Alonso, got to test the car after Esteban Ocon’s drive on the first day, unlike how they went in Barcelona. Fernando completed 146 laps over three days and drove on the first and the last day only. The driver set a good pace on the third day, as the car showed significant improvement in this round. The driver was also engaged in an intense battle with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, which made headlines as racing is unusual during the testings.
| Day | Laps completed | Rank | Best Time |
| 1 | 24 | 12 | 1:36.745 |
| 2 | – | – | – |
| 3 | 122 | 03 | 1:32.698 |
Esteban Ocon’s lap timings and laps completed
Esteban Ocon drove the car for the team on the first and the second day only. He got to drive the A522 for the entire second day, during which he set some quick laps and appeared to be satisfied with the car’s performance. He said, “We ran through a busy programme pretty much to plan, which is very important at this stage of the test. It’s been solid and I’m happy with the work completed today.” Ocon also caused a red flag on day 2.
| Day | Laps completed | Rank | Best Time |
| 1 | 42 | 13 | 1:36.800 |
| 2 | 111 | 05 | 1:34.276 |
| 3 | – | – | – |
Struggles faced by the Alpine F1 team
The pink team arrived in Bahrain with a lot of optimism despite the struggles they faced in Barcelona. And it looked clear the team did its homework and came fully prepared, as they seemed to have pretty good testing.
They suffered a minor setback on the second day during Esteban Ocon’s drive, bringing a red flag on the track. The team’s statement on Twitter read that it was a precautionary step after the driver had driven for 111 laps on that day.
Positives for Alpine to take away from Bahrain
After suffering a major setback on day 3 in Barcelona and the inability to use DRS presented the A522 as a weak challenger. The drivers and the team were optimistic but the fans just couldn’t see the silver lining. The team lagged on the timesheet and felt out of place.
However, Bahrain has turned the tables. The car managed to run successfully on all three days, enabled with the DRS. It also competed with the Aston Martin and showed its strength. And Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon managed to climb the places on the timesheet on the second and the third day. The car also showed excellent mileage. Alpine’s team director expressed his contentment with the second day’s performance, saying, “We also managed to find some decent pace after investigating the car setup yesterday and Esteban was much happier with the balance,” showing a hopeful race weekend for the team in Bahrain next week.
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Manan Goel
(400 Articles Published)