Alpine at the truce: Unstable

At the break, the French team is fourth in the constructor’s standings, in a battle with McLaren. Alpine is more or less where they wanted to be at the start of the season. Approaching the second half of the calendar, the team led by Otmar Sfaznauer has a four-point lead over McLaren. With the decisions of Alonso and Piastri, the atmosphere within the team could deteriorate. It will be necessary to keep an eye on the next three races, which will be crucial for the end of the season.

The best race

The best race for Alpine in terms of accounting was the Austrian Grand Prix, where Esteban Ocon finished in fifth place. His teammate finished in tenth place due to a wheel issue. The Spaniard was forced to stop at the pitstop two laps in a row because of a loose wheel. Prior to this incident, he was battling to hold onto sixth place. Nonetheless, Alonso, who started from 19th place after receiving a penalty, made a magnificent comeback to ultimately finish in the points.

The worst race

The Imola Grand Prix was a real disappointment for Alpine. Alonso was forced to retire due to a broken part on his car while starting from the ninth position on the grid. Esteban Ocon could not do better than fourteenth place after being eliminated in Q1 on Saturday. This is the only Grand Prix of the season where Alpine failed to score any points.

A progress?

The French team has made improvements to their car that have proven to be effective! After the first four Grand Prix, the two drivers had “only” gathered 22 points, and Alpine seemed to be the fifth, or even the sixth, force on the grid as Haas and Alfa Romeo were very fast, especially in Bahrain. In the last four races, Alonso and Ocon have scored 42 points. They are currently considered the fourth force on the grid, neck and neck with McLaren.

Reliability compared to the rest of the field.

With only three total retirements, the numbers indicate that Alpine is one of the most reliable teams, however, there are still some issues during races. Particularly in Canada, where Alonso reported a loss of power for the majority of the Grand Prix. Nevertheless, the reliability seems significantly better than the Ferrari-powered teams. It should not be forgotten that the Spaniard already received a penalty in Catalonia for installing a new engine. But also in Austria for modifications to several components on his engine.

The pilots’ duel

Fernando Alonso is having another good season, despite the criticism directed towards him regarding his age and potential decline. He has managed to show great speed during the qualifying sessions. Except for the two Grand Prix races where he received a grid penalty, namely Austria and Spain, the Spanish driver has always reached Q3 this season. Out of the 13 races, he has started in the top 10 in 84% of the Grand Prix events.

On the other hand, it is in races that he struggles to translate his good qualifying results into concrete results. The most striking example is the Canadian Grand Prix where he started second behind Verstappen. He ultimately finished the race in ninth place due to a loss of engine power, a poor strategy, and a penalty on the final lap. He finished in the top 10 in 8 out of the 13 Grand Prix races, which is 61.5% of the time. His best performance this season was at Silverstone, where he managed to secure fifth place while his teammate retired due to an engine problem.

Esteban Ocon is not the fastest driver on one lap, but he proves to be very reliable in races. Having only retired once, he managed to score points in 10 out of the 13 Grand Prix races. He reached Q3 “only” seven times this season, a little over half of the races. But it is in the race where he makes the difference by avoiding contact with other drivers, and thanks to very good tire management.

He managed to finish in the top 10 in 10 out of the 13 races of the season. He has 58 points in the driver’s standings, with an average of 4.46 points scored each weekend. He had his best weekend of the season in Austria. After qualifying in 6th place on Saturday, he managed to finish fifth, thus earning significant points for his team in the race for fourth place in the constructors’ championship.

Here is a summary table of the driver duel at Alpine where Esteban Ocon has the advantage after 13 races.

Position in the championship

Here is the table of the constructors’ ranking where Alpine currently sits in 4th place.

It will be necessary to remain vigilant for a potential comeback from McLaren, who are only four points behind the French team, especially considering Ricciardo’s lack of performance. The British team is a more than serious threat in the race for 4th place. It will also be necessary to hope that the internal team changes do not harm the team.