Szafnauer thinks that Alpine could have fought with Ferrari in Jeddah
The French team boss, Omar Szafnauer, believes that his drivers could have played for P7 in Saudi Arabia, occupied by Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. However, for the sake of preservation, the French team played it safe.
Eighth and ninth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the second round of the 2023 World Championship, Esteban Ocon was happy to finally kick off his season, after a disastrous first race, and Pierre Gasly keeps gaining confidence at the wheel of the A523.
However, Otmar Szafnauer, team principal, believes that Alpine could have challenged Ferrari. Racing behind Charles Leclerc, Ocon and Gasly were consistently lapping at a pace quite similar to that of the reigning vice-world champion during the race.
But with 10 laps to go, the two Normans slowed down their pace compared to that of the Monégasque, Szafnauer stating that he wanted to overtake the Ferraris, but the engineers proved him right.
« We were in the “no man’s land” for a while, then we slowed down the car. We were conservative with the tires, just to make sure they last until the end, he emphasized.
« I was hoping that we could move up a little more towards the Ferraris, but the engineers made the decision. »
Alpine will focus on race pace
After encouraging trials in Jeddah, where Gasly and Ocon showed a good race pace, Saturday seemed more complicated: the French drivers failed to qualify higher than P7 and P10.
« We need to look into the issue. We don’t run with light fuel on Fridays, so it’s not the amount of fuel we have in it, emphasizes the team manager. « We just need to analyze the situation and see where we can improve a bit on Sunday compared to Friday. »
