Alpine Sporting Director draws this ‘similarity’ between Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso at Barcelona testing

Alpine Sporting Director draws this ‘similarity’ between Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso at Barcelona testing

Alpine in action in Barcelona

The pre-season testing in Barcelona wasn’t a good ride for the Alpine F1 team. The team could only complete 266 laps over three days, thanks to fire during Fernando Alonso’s lap on day 3. However, Fernando Alonso’s lap in Barcelona has impressed the sporting director Alan Permane.

The director, as quoted by Autosport, said, “The lap Fernando did [on the final] morning, although it was only one lap, it’s very comparable to what [Max] Verstappen did at the same time, albeit Verstappen is using DRS. If you overlay the GPS, which we can do with the systems we have from the FIA, the traces are almost identical apart from the straights where we lose a huge amount of time.”

The positives for the team are strong though. Despite the team’s inability to be near the top of the timesheet, they are heading to Bahrain with optimism. The team ran their cars without the DRS in Barcelona and with more fuel than they generally would. These two factors had certainly kept them from reaching near their best or even expectations.

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Alan Permane’s cautious optimism for Alpine

Alpine's Fernando Alonso's car letting out thick smoke today
Alpine’s Fernando Alonso’s car on the final day in Barcelona

The sporting director confirmed that the veteran driver Fernando Alonso is pleased with the new car. He said, “Fernando was super happy with the car. We found some significant stuff on setup overnight and we’ve really calmed the rear of the car down.”

Cars running without the DRS and a heavy tank are assumed to be nearly seven-tenths slower than its counterpart, which fuels the Alpine’s optimism. However, Alan remains cautious of it. He says, “I don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses, and I’m not saying we’re going to go out and beat Mercedes and Red Bull, but I think we are in a decent position.”

“Had we put another C3 on at that point, there was going to be another three or four tenths, and then all of a sudden you’re looking very, very close. I don’t want to say everything’s fine and we are completely chilled. Of course, we’re concerned. But it’s in no way are we going to be at the bottom of the timesheets,” Alan Permane added.

“My gut feel is that we are probably a little bit closer to the front than we were at the end of last year,” he concluded as he sets the goal for the team. In 2021 the team finished P5 on the constructors’ table. Considering the improvements that the team claims to have made to its new car, they can be expected to be fighting for P4 or a few podiums over the season.

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