2022 Alpine F1 Team

[Ground Effect]

Fernando has raced for Renault/Alpine for what, 8 seasons? Won his two titles there, more than half of his race wins was with them. Who should be more loyal, Fernando or Oscar? The fact that two drivers at different spectrums of their careers, with so much of their success down to Renault, would leave this team in a lurch like this may be more telling than we think. Renault have shafted their fair share of drivers, let’s be fair, that list would include Prost. They asked Pique to crash then fired him, Palmer was forced out before the end of the season, Carlos was dropped shortly after his release from Red Bull, Hulk was dropped after helping the team move up the grid. Fernando obviously feels he was treated badly, and maybe Oscar feels the same way. Maybe, and I’m only speculating , he knows that Alpine have eyes on Gasly long term, which could be why Alpha Tauri confirmed him for 2023 so quickly?

[AR3-GP]

Fernando has raced for Renault/Alpine for what, 8 seasons? Won his two titles there, more than half of his race wins was with them. Who should be more loyal, Fernando or Oscar? The fact that two drivers at different spectrums of their careers, with so much of their success down to Renault, would leave this team in a lurch like this may be more telling than we think. Renault have shafted their fair share of drivers, let’s be fair, that list would include Prost. They asked Pique to crash then fired him, Palmer was forced out before the end of the season, Carlos was dropped shortly after his release from Red Bull, Hulk was dropped after helping the team move up the grid. Fernando obviously feels he was treated badly, and maybe Oscar feels the same way. Maybe, and I’m only speculating , he knows that Alpine have eyes on Gasly long term, which could be why Alpha Tauri confirmed him for 2023 so quickly?

Alpine was more loyal to a Mercedes young driver than their own young driver and their own champion. Let that sink in.

[politburo]

Fernando has raced for Renault/Alpine for what, 8 seasons? Won his two titles there, more than half of his race wins was with them. Who should be more loyal, Fernando or Oscar? The fact that two drivers at different spectrums of their careers, with so much of their success down to Renault, would leave this team in a lurch like this may be more telling than we think. Renault have shafted their fair share of drivers, let’s be fair, that list would include Prost. They asked Pique to crash then fired him, Palmer was forced out before the end of the season, Carlos was dropped shortly after his release from Red Bull, Hulk was dropped after helping the team move up the grid. Fernando obviously feels he was treated badly, and maybe Oscar feels the same way. Maybe, and I’m only speculating , he knows that Alpine have eyes on Gasly long term, which could be why Alpha Tauri confirmed him for 2023 so quickly?

Alpine was more loyal to a Mercedes young driver than their own young driver and their own champion. Let that sink in.

They jumped the gun offering Ocon a 3-year contract after winning that race in Hungary. One would assume, whether wrongly or rightly, that long-term longevity should not be the most pertinent goal for a midfield team looking to break into the top-tier of teams.

[ringo]

Ocon is not doing poorly. A 3 year deal for him was not a mistake.
Let's see if they let Piastri go and look elsewhere. At the end of the day they cannot force him to drive their car. At most oscar must pay damages.
Which other young talented drivers are out there?

[PlatinumZealot]

And how can you just confidently assert they'll have a very good car, we all thought from last year coming into this year and look where they are, Ocon is there fighting Magnussen and Bottas and Ricciardo just to sniff Q3, even tho Alonso has been awesome he is like 6 tenths off pole as the benchmark of that car and in the races they're finishing 40, 50 seconds back.

The car is faster than McLaren which is no mean feat! It could be a regular threat for podiums next year easily!

[F1doc]

Ocon is not doing poorly. A 3 year deal for him was not a mistake.

It is likely a mistake to have Ocon tied down for so long. Ocon hasn't underperformed to the degree of Riccardo, but the message his contract sends is wrong.

Ocon is a Mercedes driver; signing him that long shoots down Renault's own driver programme. If they could sign another manufacturer's junior, then if they believed in their own junior drivers, Piastri would have been offered a drive for 2023 instead of playing hardball over renewing Alonso. In the end Renault have shown no belief in their driver programme; it is a dead-end.

Renault have no loyalty towards their own academy.

[continuum16]

Genuine question: is Ocon still a Mercedes driver? I thought this was a Sainz/RB situation where initially (2020-21 contract) he was but on his new (2022-24) contract he’s free but maybe I’m mistaken.

If you’re Alpine; take Ricciardo. He left after 2019 when the team went backwards compared to 2018 and McLaren took a huge step forwards. In 2020 the car was better but all the decisions were made pre-season. RIC did fine in all the non-McLaren cars he’s driven (including RS20) so no reason to think his current slump would carry on. He didn’t burn bridges except maybe with Cyril who is long gone. His performance relative to Ocon was not dissimilar to how Alonso is now. Maybe he can come cheap if McLaren has to shill out ~15 million to get him out.

[peewon]

And how can you just confidently assert they'll have a very good car, we all thought from last year coming into this year and look where they are, Ocon is there fighting Magnussen and Bottas and Ricciardo just to sniff Q3, even tho Alonso has been awesome he is like 6 tenths off pole as the benchmark of that car and in the races they're finishing 40, 50 seconds back.

The car is faster than McLaren which is no mean feat! It could be a regular threat for podiums next year easily!

There hasn't been a clear 4th fastest car. It's McLaren and Alpine depending on the track with Alpha Romeo and Haas mixing it in there with them. On average, of Ricciardo had a reasonable performance gap to Norris, they would be ahead of the unreliable Alpine.

[politburo]

Ocon is not doing poorly. A 3 year deal for him was not a mistake.
Let's see if they let Piastri go and look elsewhere. At the end of the day they cannot force him to drive their car. At most oscar must pay damages.
Which other young talented drivers are out there?

Jack Doohan is in F2 and in the Alpine Academy, and is 19 now. He is the fastest rookie there based on these supertimes, arguable between him and Iwasa. He has 2 pole positions and 2 wins and is destroying his teammate in the same machinery. Just no luck whatsoever with reliability and has to develop racecraft further.

[politburo]

And how can you just confidently assert they'll have a very good car, we all thought from last year coming into this year and look where they are, Ocon is there fighting Magnussen and Bottas and Ricciardo just to sniff Q3, even tho Alonso has been awesome he is like 6 tenths off pole as the benchmark of that car and in the races they're finishing 40, 50 seconds back.

The car is faster than McLaren which is no mean feat! It could be a regular threat for podiums next year easily!

They don't have guaranteed upward mobility, usually, the mobility in this sport always involves other midfield teams shuffling around rather than a midfield team shooting to the top.

[ringo]

Otmar says he has 14 drivers asking for a seat. Are we still thinking Alpines loses?
Drivers are a dime a dozen. Only 20 F1 seats in the whole world.

[TimW]

Otmar says he has 14 drivers asking for a seat. Are we still thinking Alpines loses?
Drivers are a dime a dozen. Only 20 F1 seats in the whole world.

Sure Latifi is interested. I bet Alpine is very happy with that.

[F1doc]

Genuine question: is Ocon still a Mercedes driver? I thought this was a Sainz/RB situation where initially (2020-21 contract) he was but on his new (2022-24) contract he’s free but maybe I’m mistaken.

I believe so, but not in an academy way.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ocon- ... 80926/amp/

[PlatinumZealot]

Ocon has been released long ago.

[The Prodigy]

Ocon has been released long ago.

I thought that Ocon is still “managed” by Mercedes/Toto?