How a Sao Paulo storm saved Alpine’s messy F1 season
The one thing that has been sorely lacking at Alpine, or Team Enstone, in the past few years is stability.
This is a team, which, since mid-2023 has lost its CEO, two team principals, a sporting director, technical director, and head of aerodynamics to name a few. Its been cursed with a dreadfully slow and overweight car whilst also being caught sleeping over the contract of one of the hottest properties on the grid.
But, from all that chaos, Alpine finally appears to have that stability it has been crying out for in new team principal Oliver Oakes and in a blast from the Enstone past, Flavio Briatore.
This was a season in which Alpine hit absolute rock-bottom, but started a gentle curve upwards, handed an almighty assist from a Sao Paulo storm and good old racer’s instinct.
The team and season
The A524 machine arrived slow, overweight and left Alpine with a lot of head-scratching, as technical director Matt Harman resigned – as exclusively revealed by RacingNews365 moments before the Bahrain season-opener.
The opening few rounds were tough, but Esteban Ocon did nick a point with a strong drive to 10th in Miami to register the first point of the season, as upgrades started to filter through.
But that relationship quickly turned sour after his Monaco do or die move on Pierre Gasly, putting at risk a points finish in a season Alpine did not know just how many chances it would get to trouble the top 10.
Form improved in the mid-European trek including back-to-back double points in the quick trip to Canada before returning to Spain as most of the attention was turned to Alpine’s future.
Renault was considering closing the Viry power unit operation and reverting from works to customer status, with boss Bruno Famin stepping down to oversee the new Viry operations, with a decision finally made in late summer.
In Famin’s place, came Oakes, the former Hitech Formula 2 boss, and a world karting champion. For want of a better word, a racer.
He was joined by the flamboyance of Briatore, called in by Renault chief Luca de Meo to be an executive advisor.
The highly-rated ex-Ferrari and McLaren technical wizard David Sanchez was appointed as Alpine finally had a plan.
An upgrade in the United States made the A524 into a genuine points contender, but it would take a Sao Paulo storm to save Alpine’s season.
During the race, Ocon and Gasly ran long in terrible conditions and got lucky when Franco Colapinto re-arranged the Williams into a rubbish skip, allowing a free change of tyres.
Nothing was going to stop Max Verstappen that day as he passed Ocon for the win, but the two finished two-three for Enstone’s first double podium since Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen in 2013.
It earned them 33 precious points and vaulted the team up to sixth in the constructors’ from a lowly eighth – and brought in tens of millions of extra dollars in prize money.
This wasn’t secure however just yet as a battle with Haas engaged, but Gasly went into overdrive, scoring a fifth, on merit, in Qatar and seventh in Abu Dhabi to steal 10th in the drivers’ and secure Alpine sixth in the constructors’.
From a season of nothing to finishing just 29 points behind Aston Martin was an outstanding achievement.
The drivers
What was Ocon’s team firmly became Gasly’s through the course of a season in which the former’s relationship deteriorated with the team.
Ocon’s move on Gasly, putting both at risk of a DNF when points were on the table, in Monaco, especially after an agreement not to attack, led to Famin threatening to bench him for Canada.
That did not happen, but it was swiftly announced that he would be leaving Enstone and joining Haas for 2025. It was time for both to move on – which came a race earlier than expected after Qatar.
So he could compete in the post-season test, Ocon, who had complained of feeling he was receiving sub-par equipment compared to Gasly, was stood down for Abu Dhabi, allowing his 2025 replacement Jack Doohan a free-hit of an unexpected debut.
But the real star of Alpine’s season was Gasly.
If you take away his 15 points from Brazil, he still would finish on 27 points, four ahead of Ocon’s total tally of 23, with 18 of those coming through his P2 in Brazil.
But it was not a fluke from Gasly.
He was third on the grid in Las Vegas before the Renault engine lunched itself and blew hole in the sidepod, held of Carlos Sainz for fifth in Qatar before taking seventh in the finale in Abu Dhabi, beaten only by the two Mercedes, Ferraris, Verstappen and race-winner Lando Norris.
It gives Alpine and Gasly something to build on in 2025.
