Breaking news
Formula 1
Alpine: Bahrain GP exposed weaknesses with F1 car
Alpine says that weaknesses with its current Formula 1 car are costing it the vital lap time it needs to be fighting at the front of the midfield.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Apr 13, 2021, 3:03 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The French car manufacturer endured a tough season opener in Bahrain, with neither Fernando Alonso nor Esteban Ocon managing to finish in the points.
Alonso’s hopes were wrecked in the race by overheating brakes, triggered by a sandwich wrapper getting caught in the car, while Ocon was left on the backfoot by poorly timed yellow flags in qualifying that led to him being dumped out in Q1.
Even without those dramas, though, Alpine did not appear to have the pace to seriously threaten main rivals McLaren, Ferrari and AlphaTauri, which is why the outfit is planning a development push.
Executive director Marcin Budkowski said: “The Bahrain race weekend confirmed some of the weaknesses of our package, which we’re working hard to improve and gain the few tenths of a second that we are currently missing to fight at the front of the midfield.”
Read Also:
- Are Z-shaped floors the way to go in F1 2021?
- Mercedes faces "tricky" decision over 2021 vs 2022 split
- Could AlphaTauri be 2021 surprise after Bahrain ‘shocker’?
Alpine is planning to bring an aerodynamic development to this weekend’s Imola race, as well as use Friday practice to better understand what design direction it needs to take with further improvements.
Budkowski added: “We have an aerodynamic upgrade package coming to the car for this grand prix.
“In addition, we have some test items to assess during Friday practice, which will help define further upgrades planned over the next few races.”
Alonso, who is returning to F1 this season after two seasons away, says the target for the team this weekend must be to finish in the top ten.
“I think we have to fight to score our first points of the season on Sunday,” he said.
“Let’s hope all our bad luck for the season was used up in Bahrain. We’re still learning lots about the car and I’m expecting that the setup here and, of course, the weather will be very different to what we experienced in Bahrain.
“It should be pretty close and a few tenths of a second could make up a number of positions.”
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Seidl is best team principal in F1, says Brown
Next article The McLaren that changed Formula 1 history
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Alpine
"Colapinto never hit the apex" – Audi's take on contentious Nico Hulkenberg penalty in Brazilian GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
"Colapinto never hit the apex" – Audi's take on contentious Nico Hulkenberg penalty in Brazilian GP
A fond farewell to a few WEC favourites
WEC
Monza
A fond farewell to a few WEC favourites
Pierre Gasly on Franco Colapinto fan pressure: “Once you deal with Helmut Marko, anything else is no pressure”
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Pierre Gasly on Franco Colapinto fan pressure: “Once you deal with Helmut Marko, anything else is no pressure”
Latest news
IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 12 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR
Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
12 h
Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’
Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 12 h
Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports
Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
12 h
Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe