Alpine must bounce back before the summer break
After the abandonment of both their cars at Silverstone two weeks ago, Alpine wants to bounce back this weekend in Hungary.
Silverstone, the forgettable weekend
Disillusionment. That’s a good word to summarize Alpine’s weekend at the last Grand Prix in Silverstone. Initially in a good position in the race, Pierre Gasly had been unlucky with the Safety car. However, he was still capable of scoring points before a collision with Lance Stroll dashed all hopes. The Frenchman was forced to retire a few laps before the end, provoking his anger and disappointment. (source)
« It was shown that we still had some speed but with the Safety Car, I ended up out of the points. After that, I managed to make a comeback, but I haven’t seen the footage yet. I’m just disappointed! » he expressed himself on the sidelines of the race.
On the other side of the garage, Esteban Ocon was forced to retire from the race even earlier, on the 9th lap. The day before, he was not able to compete with McLaren and Ferrari, as he didn’t make it to Q3 in qualifying and started 12th.
But the worrying pace and retirements are not the only negative things from the weekend for Alpine. The French team has been overtaken by McLaren in the constructors’ championship and, at the dawn of the Hungarian Grand Prix, has a 12-point lead.
Get your head above water before the truce
After this dreadful weekend, the two French drivers obviously have the desire to do better. Hurt, but not sunk, Pierre Gasly knows that there is still a lot of work to do.
“The final result was really bad with two retirements. We know that we will improve the performance, that we will find more speed. We are not yet fighting for the positions we would like, but it’s not like we are far behind, so we just have to keep our heads down and make more improvements to the car,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.
Esteban Ocon, he is back on the grounds of his first victory in F1, a circuit that he particularly loves. The past few days have been dedicated to several meetings, work in the simulator, and physical preparation in order to get ready for the upcoming races and try to bounce back.
Unfortunately, McLaren has taken a lead and it seems unlikely that Alpine can equal it at the moment. However, the French team is still arriving in Budapest with a small improvement before bringing a second, more significant one next weekend for the last race before the summer break.
