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Pierre Gasly has confirmed Alpine’s upgrade plan as it seeks to turn around its 2024 season.
Gasly confirms if Alpine can see a reprieve to its 2024 woes (Image Credit: @AlpineF1Team on X)The team is rooted in the lower order of the standings, currently in P8, two points behind Haas. Alpine’s A524 car has been grappling with reliability issues and weight problems after failing crash tests, severely impacting its season.
While the weight issues have been mostly resolved, the A524 remains one of the slowest cars on the 2024 grid. A modified floor was debuted in China but failed to move the team forward.
As a result, points finishes are a rarity for Alpine in 2024. The team needs a reprieve as it grapples with continuous car trouble and the decision not to renew Esteban Ocon’s contract in 2025. He and teammate Pierre Gasly dramatically collided in Monaco, wiping out any chance of a double points finish. The intra-team rivalry continued unabated in Montreal, with Ocon unhappy at the introduction of team orders in closing the stages.
Following Alpine’s first double-point finish of the season in Canada, there is a glimmer of hope that the team, despite its recent struggles, is on the path to a turnaround.
More struggles ahead
However, Gasly has poured cold water on the Enstone outfit’s struggles ending in the short term. Speaking to Autosport, Gasly confirmed Alpine will not have any upgrades coming in the next few races. Instead, it is plotting its fightback through a larger upgrade later in the year. Gasly also ominously said the team is likely to struggle while waits for its larger upgrade package:
“We won’t have any upgrades in the near future. We know the target is to have something a bit more significant at some stage in the year.
“[Qualifying in Montreal] was tough. I expect the next few races to be quite tough if it’s normal conditions, but this is Formula 1 and you always have chances at times.
“That’s why we’ve got to make sure we stay on top of it, and until we have the upgrades, just try to grab any opportunities that may arise.
Speaking after qualifying in Canada, Gasly said Alpine needed perfect weekends if it planned to stay ahead of Williams. He and Alpine are targeting moving up the grid in the second half of the year but acknowledged the work needed to do this:
“That’s what we need until the end of the year, because we know Williams seems to have a competitive car,” he added.
“Looking at the qualifying yesterday, it was quite impressive. Haas seems to have some good pace at times.
“We know on days like today we’ve got to make the best out of what we have and we can’t afford to do any mistakes, can’t afford to take any unnecessary risks.
“It was well managed, and hopefully, we’re going to continue like that until the end of the year.”
Feature Image Credit: @AlpineF1Team on X