Alpine’s Disastrous Weekend in Canada: Disappointing Results and Resignation Shake Up Team
Alpine faced a nightmare weekend at the Canadian Grand Prix with both Colapinto and Gasly finishing outside the top 10, securing 13th and 15th place, respectively. The team’s woes were compounded by the resignation of Luca de Meo as the CEO of Renault. This marked another setback for Alpine in a season filled with disappointments, despite a glimmer of hope in Spain where they secured their second points finish thanks to Pierre Gasly. However, in Canada, the team, currently at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, failed to secure a top-10 finish for either driver, resulting in the worst outcome for Gasly so far this season.
Gasly’s race got off to a rough start as he was forced to start from the pit lane alongside Lawson due to a power unit replacement. He crossed the finish line in 15th place, expressing frustration with the team’s performance: “We have a lot to review after the race. Starting from the pit lane after tactical changes in parc ferme was always going to be tough. We tried a different strategy, and it turned out to be a frustrating afternoon. We were stuck behind other cars and struggled to make overtakes on the straights. We need to aim for a higher grid position because with a better track position, we can be much more competitive. I think our pace was decent when we had clean air, but unfortunately, we were stuck in traffic for too long. We will regroup and aim for a better weekend in Austria next time.”
Despite the gloomy performance, there were some faint signs of improvement for Franco Colapinto, who matched his best result of the season with a 13th place finish, contrasting with his teammate’s struggles. Colapinto commented on the challenging race: “It was a tough afternoon for us and certainly not what we expected or wanted. We put ourselves in a good position starting from the tenth grid slot, and I had a good start overtaking some cars on the first lap. Of course, from there, the goal is to score points, but we were a bit unlucky with the strategy and traffic, which affected our race. I think the car had a good pace, and we need to understand what we can do better next time. It’s a very tricky track, and we knew it would be tough for us, so we can certainly gain some advantages from certain aspects of the weekend. I am pleased with the progress made during the weekend, despite the final result, and I definitely want to continue this momentum in Austria.”
The Canadian Grand Prix proved to be a challenging chapter for Alpine, highlighting the need for significant improvements to propel the team back into contention. As the season progresses, Alpine will have to regroup, strategize, and push harder to turn their fortunes around and aim for better results in the upcoming races.
