Alpine and the good news of the Australian GP disappointment

The Alpine team seemed to be enjoying a good pace in both short and long runs at the Australian GP, and with Alonso they were protagonists at various points in free practice.

The Spaniard was fourth in both FP2 on Friday and FP3 on Saturday, and was aiming for a strong qualifying result. However, his breakdown in the final Q3 forced him to start tenth, behind Esteban Ocon who this weekend did not feel so comfortable with the car.

From there, they played it on Sunday with a risky strategy with Fernando Alonso that didn’t work, going out hard and looking for a Safety Car at the right time. The safety car arrived, but too soon, and also a high degradation in the two-time champion’s A522 forced a second stop.

In the end, Alonso was last (17th) and Ocon saved a seventh place taking advantage of the withdrawals of Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz.

Taking stock of what happened at Albert Park, the CEO of Alpine, Laurent Rossi , did not hide the bittersweet taste in their mouths, but at the same time defends that this is a good indication: “In general, we are disappointed with the today’s result, but it’s a good sign that we’re not satisfied, because it underlines how much progress we’ve made as a team.

“We know we had the speed and the potential to get a much better result with both cars today, but the weekend just didn’t go in the direction we wanted,” he said.

(See photos of Alpine in Australia before reading on)

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42, and the rest of the grid on lap one

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03

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Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

George Russell, Mercedes W13, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, and the rest of the grid on lap one

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, and the rest of the grid on lap one

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Photo By: Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

George Russell, Mercedes W13, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

George Russell, Mercedes W13, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18, George Russell, Mercedes W13, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Alex Albon, Williams FW44, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13

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Foto de: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-22, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Alex Albon, Williams FW44, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Alex Albon, Williams FW44, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Alex Albon, Williams FW44, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

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Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Alex Albon, Williams FW44, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

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Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Start Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75

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Photo by: Carl Bingham/Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari F1-75

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03, Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C42

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT03, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03

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Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

George Russell, Mercedes W13, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL36, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL36, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A522

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Foto de: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images

Before the start of the 2022 world championship, a seventh place, without being a feat, would probably have been considered a good result for the French team, but that feeling of disappointment is a sign that there is potential for more.

In fact, it can be said that they are competing with Mercedes for being the third best car on the grid, but the Germans are making the most of their opportunities and in Alpine, for one reason or another, they are not able to do so.

“On this track it ended up being very difficult to overtake, especially compared to the previous two races, and we knew that the qualifying result on Saturday would play a big part in the result of the race on Sunday,” continued Rossi. “As we were starting eighth and tenth, we knew it was going to be quite a challenge to come back from there.”

The CEO lamented the moment the Safety Car came out: “After initial hope, the Safety Car was especially unfortunate for Fernando, who was managing a reverse strategy, quiet but effective, from hard to medium.”

Despite leaving Australia with just six points and although McLaren has overtaken them in a constructors’ championship where they are already 33 points behind Red Bull, 43 behind Mercedes and 82 behind Ferrari, there is hope.

And after the changes introduced for this race, there will be more very soon which, they hope, will pay off: “Overall we have shown that we are competitive and will continue to build on the good foundation we have, especially bringing some improvements to the next few races to allow us keep fighting higher up the grid”.

“For that, we will work on consistency to get both cars into the points. I am confident that the whole team at Enstone and Viry will continue their hard work to push this team deservedly forward. The next race will be in Europe at Imola. Our team is very involved and now it’s up to us to stay highly motivated in this fight for the championship.”