This forum contains threads to discuss teams themselves. Anything not technical about the cars, including restructuring, performances etc belongs here.
Really good race, probably best showing since Jeddah. Reliability still an issue but all of the reliability problems seems like something small is leading to a big problem unlike Ferrari problems where the engine just stops, hopefully the team can get on top of it quickly. I think there's more pace to he found with the new upgrades. Austria should be a good track for us, sectors 2 and 3 at least, alpine's low traction could be a problem in sector 1 though. Sprint race weekend, hopefully now that the race pace seems on par or just below qualifying pace, the sprint shouldn't hurt the team as much as it did in imola.
I agree with most of what you're saying, I'll just add that the car's aero characteristics have changed significantly, nor have they been fully explored. We cannot presume that the pre-Silverstone characteristics of the car still apply to this new car. The have probably changed significantly. In other words sector 1 in Austria might not be a weakness.
Really good race, probably best showing since Jeddah. Reliability still an issue but all of the reliability problems seems like something small is leading to a big problem unlike Ferrari problems where the engine just stops, hopefully the team can get on top of it quickly. I think there's more pace to he found with the new upgrades. Austria should be a good track for us, sectors 2 and 3 at least, alpine's low traction could be a problem in sector 1 though. Sprint race weekend, hopefully now that the race pace seems on par or just below qualifying pace, the sprint shouldn't hurt the team as much as it did in imola.
I agree with most of what you're saying, I'll just add that the car's aero characteristics have changed significantly, nor have they been fully explored. We cannot presume that the pre-Silverstone characteristics of the car still apply to this new car. The have probably changed significantly. In other words sector 1 in Austria might not be a weakness.
Good point, I hope that the car is still low drag tbh. As for sector 1 in Austria, Fernando said that he couldn't overtake Leclerc even with old tires and front wing damage due to the difference in traction so hopefully there is something to gain there by tweaking the new upgrades.
Is alonso coming back next year? He’s driving brilliantly. Hard to imagine alpine wouldn’t want him back
This has been an underrated sub plot of the season for me. Reading the tea leaves a bit here, but Ive found it a bit curious as to the no. of times there's been a quote from Alonso in the media about 'feeling young' or 'wanting to drive 2-3 more years' this season. Maybe hes being asked questions to that effect but it sure seems like he wants to people to know that there's a bit of racing left in him. This could be directed towards Alpine which (if it is) might suggest they haven't been very forthcoming with an extension for him. We know Piastri is lurking. Or maybe just letting other teams know that hes available as a medium term option. The buzz was they would do an extension around the summer break so we'll know in a couple months time.
Quite fancy Alpine to have a strong weekend here in Austria and upset the applecart a little - not to the point where they give Red Bull an issue but wouldn’t be overly surprised to see them split a Merc and Ferrari around this track with a little bit of luck.
Really enjoyed watching Alonso giving it full beans at Silverstone, he’s absolutely awesome.
The Alpine driver situation is so weird. Between Ocon and Alonso, you'd have to say Alonso is doing a better job on average, but it's Ocon who's on the long contract. Ocon isn't doing bad enough to really find himself in jeopardy of losing the drive; I think he's doing alright and has earned his place, even if he might not be the kind of generational talent that he could have looked like. The question is, is Piastri that "generational" talent? Maybe. I don't think he would sign on the dotted line for Alpine if he didn't have the promise of a race drive, because surely Helmut Marko, Zak Brown, or someone else will have been banging on his door if he was available.
Basically, I think if Alpine had no pre-existing contracts they would probably sign Alonso and Piastri for 2023. But they do have pre-existing contracts, so somebody's going to have a very unpleasant meeting with Otmar in the next 2 months.
The simple solution would be to send Piastri to Williams, but if you're Williams and you have someone like Logan Sargeant (who is doing very good in F2, although he's not Piastri-level right now) as part of your own academy, wouldn't you want to promote your own talent rather than have Red Bull's (Albon) and Alpine's (Piastri)?
"You can't argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"
- Mark Twain
The Alpine driver situation is so weird. Between Ocon and Alonso, you'd have to say Alonso is doing a better job on average, but it's Ocon who's on the long contract. Ocon isn't doing bad enough to really find himself in jeopardy of losing the drive; I think he's doing alright and has earned his place, even if he might not be the kind of generational talent that he could have looked like. The question is, is Piastri that "generational" talent? Maybe. I don't think he would sign on the dotted line for Alpine if he didn't have the promise of a race drive, because surely Helmut Marko, Zak Brown, or someone else will have been banging on his door if he was available.
Basically, I think if Alpine had no pre-existing contracts they would probably sign Alonso and Piastri for 2023. But they do have pre-existing contracts, so somebody's going to have a very unpleasant meeting with Otmar in the next 2 months.
The simple solution would be to send Piastri to Williams, but if you're Williams and you have someone like Logan Sargeant (who is doing very good in F2, although he's not Piastri-level right now) as part of your own academy, wouldn't you want to promote your own talent rather than have Red Bull's (Albon) and Alpine's (Piastri)?
For me, without question, it Ocon Alonso next year. I'm not even thinking about it. Williams have admitted to being in talks with Alpine for Piastri.
The Alpine driver situation is so weird. Between Ocon and Alonso, you'd have to say Alonso is doing a better job on average, but it's Ocon who's on the long contract. Ocon isn't doing bad enough to really find himself in jeopardy of losing the drive; I think he's doing alright and has earned his place, even if he might not be the kind of generational talent that he could have looked like. The question is, is Piastri that "generational" talent? Maybe. I don't think he would sign on the dotted line for Alpine if he didn't have the promise of a race drive, because surely Helmut Marko, Zak Brown, or someone else will have been banging on his door if he was available.
Basically, I think if Alpine had no pre-existing contracts they would probably sign Alonso and Piastri for 2023. But they do have pre-existing contracts, so somebody's going to have a very unpleasant meeting with Otmar in the next 2 months.
The simple solution would be to send Piastri to Williams, but if you're Williams and you have someone like Logan Sargeant (who is doing very good in F2, although he's not Piastri-level right now) as part of your own academy, wouldn't you want to promote your own talent rather than have Red Bull's (Albon) and Alpine's (Piastri)?
For me, without question, it Ocon Alonso next year. I'm not even thinking about it. Williams have admitted to being in talks with Alpine for Piastri.
Piastri a warm up year at Williams and continue with Ocon and Alo for 2023 would make sense. Then after 23 see if Alo still an old dog or it is doing better than Ocon if reability issues are over come. I think if Alo is not renewed yet is because there is a french guy shitting his pants that 23 Alo might still on the team and his renewal might be compromise.
The Alpine driver situation is so weird. Between Ocon and Alonso, you'd have to say Alonso is doing a better job on average, but it's Ocon who's on the long contract. Ocon isn't doing bad enough to really find himself in jeopardy of losing the drive; I think he's doing alright and has earned his place, even if he might not be the kind of generational talent that he could have looked like. The question is, is Piastri that "generational" talent? Maybe. I don't think he would sign on the dotted line for Alpine if he didn't have the promise of a race drive, because surely Helmut Marko, Zak Brown, or someone else will have been banging on his door if he was available.
Basically, I think if Alpine had no pre-existing contracts they would probably sign Alonso and Piastri for 2023. But they do have pre-existing contracts, so somebody's going to have a very unpleasant meeting with Otmar in the next 2 months.
The simple solution would be to send Piastri to Williams, but if you're Williams and you have someone like Logan Sargeant (who is doing very good in F2, although he's not Piastri-level right now) as part of your own academy, wouldn't you want to promote your own talent rather than have Red Bull's (Albon) and Alpine's (Piastri)?
For me, without question, it Ocon Alonso next year. I'm not even thinking about it. Williams have admitted to being in talks with Alpine for Piastri.
I think that will be the case; I just think that If you had the open choice of the three drivers of Alonso Ocon and Piastri I would probably go with Alonso and Piastri but they don't have open choice, they have a contract with Ocon so it will continue with the current pair. It was more about the embarrassment of riches than anything else. Maybe it's just me. Anyways we won't have confirmation until after the break so I'll stop speculating/daydreaming .
Cars looked pretty decent in FP1 given they didn't run the softs. Hopefully they can convert the medium pace to softs.
"You can't argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"
- Mark Twain
.