The DRS Zone

Tag: alpine

  • F1 Testing Day 1

    The 2025 F1 Season officially started yesterday with the first of three days of testing in Bahrain

    The first day saw all drivers take part and one of the key things to note, was reliability. None of the teams seemed to suffer any major reliability issues that caused them to lose any significant time, and most teams managed a good number of laps.

    HaaS160
    VCARB154
    Mercedes148
    Ferrari141
    Alpine140
    Red Bull132
    Williams131
    Mclaren118
    Kick114
    Aston Martin88

    McLaren will obviously take the headline for topping the session, but we all know that testing means nothing, and we won’t know the true order until we get to Australia. However, the car does look good. From the onboards there isn’t much wheel spin, and it seems very planted through the corners.

    McLaren, unlike some of the other teams have not made any radical changes, Zak Brown has said that whilst it looks the same as last year there are plenty of new innovations on the car that have not been seen, and rumour has it that they have gained 4 tenths on last year’s car. The other three teams at the front have all tried something different this year, Ferrari have changed their suspension layout, Red Bull have re-designed the front of the car to improve their understeer issues and Mercedes are trying something different, which they are trying to keep under wraps.

    The rest of the field look quite close again. Alpine are certainly having a better start to testing than they were this time last year which is positive. Aston Martin, although completing the lowest number of laps look solid and I would say so far, the car looks better than last season. The remaining teams all look like they have made improvements on this time last season but what the order will be is hard to guess

    Unusually there were no red flags brought out by cars stopped on track, however there was a lengthy stop after the power to the circuit was lost which was slightly embarrassing. As a result, the session was extended so the teams could recuperate the lost running time, and all the rookies got through the session without issues save for the odd spin and running wide at some corners.

    This is how the first day ended.

    1) Lando Norris, McLaren, 1:30.430, 52 laps

    2) George Russell, Mercedes, 1:30.587, 70 laps

    3) Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 1:30.674, 74 laps

    4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:30.878, 71 laps

    5) Carlos Sainz, Williams, 1:30.955, 68 laps

    6) Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 1:31.353, 72 laps

    7) Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 1:31.428, 78 laps

    8) Liam Lawson, Red Bull, 1:31.560, 58 laps

    9) Alex Albon, Williams 1:31.573, 63 laps

    10) Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls, 1:31.610, 78 laps

    11) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls, 1:31.631, 76 laps

    12) Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber, 1:31.690, 59 laps

    13) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 1:31.834, 70 laps

    14) Jack Doohan, Alpine 1:31.841, 68 laps

    15) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1:31.874, 46 laps

    16) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 1:31.949, 42 laps

    17) Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 1:32.084, 66 laps

    18) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber, 1:32.169, 55 laps

    19) Esteban Ocon, Haas, 1:33.600, 88 laps

    20) Oliver Bearman, Haas, 1:35.522, 72 laps

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  • 2024 Season Review – Alpine

    The gift that kept on giving

    For a large part of the 2024 season Alpine were the gift that kept on giving. A poor start to the season led to early team changes which would continue at other parts of the season and would also include a driver change for the last race of the season. The team would eventually finish 6th in the Constructors, a position that largely flattered and was mainly thanks to a large points haul from the chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix. Let’s look in further detail.

    The Team

    After the team finished bottom of the pile in the first race the sword was wielded for the first time. Technical Director Matt Harman and Head of Aerodynamic Dirk de Beer were the two names to bite the bullet. Shortly after Advisor Bob Bell announced he was leaving to link up with Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin. By the time we got to May, Flavio Briatore, who used to run the team during its Renault days until the Crash Gate saga was installed back into the team as Special Advisor.

    This was a great move in my opinion, Briatore doesn’t suffer any fools and will not be afraid to do what he needs to, to sort out the team.

    Fast forward a couple of months and it was announced that Ocon would not be retained for 2025 and during the Belgium Grand Prix, it was announced that Team Principal Bruno Famin would leave the team with immediate effect.

    The team also announced that for the 2026 season they would not be producing their own engine and would instead become a customer of Mercedes, slightly embarrassing for a manufacturer backed by Renault to admit the engines they produce are not up to the job. I would like to think this is only temporary while they look to rebuild and start from scratch at within the engine department.

    The Drivers

    Alpine started the 2024 season with Pierre Gasly and Estaban Ocon and they ended the season with Pierre Gasly and Jack Doohan. There were some questions about the line up back in 2023 as it was well reported that Gasly and Ocon, despite being childhood friends no longer got on. Ocon also seems to have a bit of a history with falling out with his teammate. It happened when he drove for Force India and again at Alpine with Fernando Alonso. That relationship went very sour after initially being quite friendly between the two. Sparks started to fly, after the two made contact in Monaco, however after a 5-place grid penalty by the time they got to Canada, Ocon had taken the blame for the incident.

    Gasly and Ocon, were however the first pairing to claim the team’s first double podium under the Alpine name. They benefited by being in the right place in the right time after a series of unfortunate events at the Brazilian Grand Prix led both drivers to finish 2nd & 3rd. This leaped the team from 9th to 6th in the championship standings.

    Ocon was released of his contract after his DNF in Qatar and was replaced by Jack Doohan for the final race.

    For 2025….

    Doohan will partner Gasly at least for the start of 2025. Alpine however have signed Colapinto as their reserve driver. Colapinto impressed for Williams after he replaced Logan Sargeant. I think there are altera motives for Alpine signing him and unless Doohan is a close match to Gasly, he could be out of a drive sooner rather than later. On a whole though they have to do better than last season, technically the team (as Renault) are former World Champions and they have to start at least pushing to be the best of the midfield and cannot rely on lucky one off results.

    2024 Season Rating 3/10

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  • F1 75 Live Event

    Jack Whitehall presented the F1 75 event at the O2 in London. During the event to celebrate 75 years of Formula 1, the teams were unveiling their liveries for the upcoming season.

    The event was opened by MGK, who is famous in the F1 world for snubbing Martin Brundle a couple of years ago on the grid for the Brazilian Grand Prix. That weekend it was also reported that MGK had left the race before it had even reached half distance. For me, it shows how far away from F1 is from fans and what they want. At an event celebrating F1, surely you want people that are fans of F1? MGK doesn’t really strike me as an F1 fan.

    What followed the opening performance was an evening of some cringey uncomfortable interviews and innuendos about Aston Martins Mike Krack. There we’re some lighter moments however when Jack Whitehall asked Gordon Ramsay about the ban on swearing on team radio.

    “These athletes push themselves to the extreme, so sometimes when it comes out, let them be real, let it go. Come on. They’re risking their life every time, traveling over 200 Miles per hour. So, if the s*** hits the fan..”

    Gordon Ramsay

    The latter part of the comment caused Whitehall’s microphone to mysteriously go off and we didn’t hear what else was said.

    The other thing I didn’t like was the booing. With its pandering to drama, F1 has attracted a whole new fan base to the sport and some of them like to boo. Having been a fan of F1 since 98, watching through the Schumacher dominance and controversies, I never heard regular booing until the last 10 years. Obviously, the booing was mainly reserved for Verstappen and Christian Horner, for me real F1 fans have a respect for all drivers for what they do and what some of them have achieved. If you want to boo, go back to the football terraces because it does not belong in F1. Whilst F1 drivers may not be as gladiatorial as some of their predecessors, they still should be respected. I will add to this that the FIA also got booed which did make me laugh, but it serves them right for trying to control everything.

    One thing I did find interesting was a quick shot of Christian and Gerri Horner at the table, with someone sat in-between them.

    Looking at the liveries, they were revealed in championship order starting from 10th onwards. VCARB won the evening for me and Red Bull was the worst. Although I do like the Red Bull livery, it is absolutely the same as it always is. I was expecting more teams to have more unpainted black carbon fibre so they can save a couple of grams in weight, but most cars seemed to be well covered in paint. Here is my rank of best to worst livery of the evening.

    1. VCARB
    2. McLaren
    3. Williams
    4. Ferrari
    5. Mercedes
    6. Aston Martin
    7. Haas
    8. Stake
    9. Alpine
    10. Red Bull

    It was good to see Hamilton in Ferrari red and I am really looking forward to seeing how he does. I hope F1 doesn’t make this an annual event, it’s a bit much really for a livery reveal. We have seen a couple of the new cars showcased from the teams on their preseason filming days, but the majority of the new cars won’t be shown until we get to testing next week.

    Please let me know what you think in the comments.

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  • Colapinto to Alpine

    The Background

    Rumours circulated for a while that Franco Colapinto was going to land himself a last-minute grid slot for the 2025 season. He impressed in his short stint at Williams when he replaced Logan Sargeant, this despite smashing the car to bits on several occasions. It was announced Thursday 9th January that he would be leaving Williams and joining Alpine, not for a race seat however but as reserve driver.

    It might seem like a strange decision to go from Williams’ reserve driver to Alpine’s reserve driver, however I think there is more at play here. Let me explain.

    Firstly, Alpine appointed Flavio Briatore as “Executive Advisor of the Formula One Team”. Basically, he is the Team Principle in all but name. Briatore has been out of F1 since the crash gate scandal, he returned in 2024 to the team where he was Team Principle for many years. He runs a tight ship, doesn’t take any crap from anyone and is not afraid to wield the sword if needs be. If people think Helmut Marko is ruthless, Briatore eats him for breakfast.

    Secondly, Alpine have made a gamble this season by making Jack Doohan their second driver. Whilst Jack has impressed in F2, that does not mean he will be able to cut it in F1. We only need to look at Nicholas Latifi and Logan Sargeant, who both did reasonably well in F2 but then really struggled in F1. Alpine also have Pierre Gasly in the other seat, it’s a big year for Gasly, I will explain more in a minute, but he is up against an Alpine junior driver who will almost very much be the “favoured son”.

    The Future

    What I think has been done here is a shrewd move by Briatore and I think that Colapinto has signed with a guaranteed race seat for 2026. Why else move? You must imagine that from Williams’ point of view it is highly unlikely that in 2026 they will not have Albon or Sainz driving their cars. So, If my theory is correct, who loses their seat at Alpine? Colapinto is also now in a great spot for this season, should Doohan not meet expectations and struggle significantly, we could well see Colapinto in that race seat after the summer break. This is also why I think this is a massive yea for Gasly. If Doohan outperforms him, Gasly could well find himself without a seat for 2026. Personally, I think Briatore is planning on a Colapinto/ Doohan lineup for 2026. Watch this space and let’s see how the season pans out.

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