The Alpine F1 Team enters the 2024 Formula 1 season with a mix of determination and uncertainty. After a lackluster 2023 campaign, the French outfit aimed to regain lost ground and prove their mettle on the track. However, things went south very quickly.
Last year, Alpine was a middle order team, regularly fighting for points. But in Bahrain, everything went wrong for the team and they finished dead last.
Now, the question is how bad is the car’s pace?
Alpine F1 Was 13-Sec Off Hulk’s Haas
Last year’s bottom runner Haas F1 wasn’t having a good race. After an early crash Nico Hulkenberg was forced to pit for some repairs. In total, he did three pit stops (avg Pit Stop is 22 seconds) but still managed to finish ahead of Estoban Ocon’s Alpine F1 car.
What was the margin you ask?
Just how slow was Alpine in the opening race of the 2024 Formula 1 season?
Nico Hulkenberg stopped 3-times in the Bahrain GP.
He still finished 13.8 seconds ahead of Esteban Ocon who stopped only twice!#F1
— Kunal Shah (@kunalashah) March 5, 2024
One F1 journalist points out the staggering difference in the timesheet and pace of the Alpine F1 car.
Aftermath
A few days post the Bahrain GP it was announced that team’s technical director Matt Harman and head of aerodynamics Dirk de Beer have tendered their resignations. And the struggling team is now looking to restructure its management to soak the impact. Last year, Otmar Szafnauer was shown the door for poor performance mid season. The team hoped for a turnaround this season with a new leadership but now things are looking bleak.
What lies ahead?
It was clear that Alpine F1 is slow from the 2024 season testing. And the 1st race of the season revealed how bad was the pace. Now with so many changes inside the company it will be difficult to assume that they can improve a lot.
In addition, last week, Esteban Ocon was reportedly linked to a possible move to the Mercedes F1 team. Alpine’s bad performance can also put his chances of a possible deal with the German outfit in jeopardy. Currently, the drivers are ‘trusting the process‘ but if things doesn’t improve the Alpine F1 team will face troubles in retaining the drivers.
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