Ocon Gasly Slam Alpine F1 Over Hungary Blunder

Alpine F1’s strategy misstep in Hungary leaves drivers Ocon and Gasly deeply disappointed at the back of the grid.

Alpine F1 will monopolize the last row of the starting grid in Hungary tomorrow, or at least the last two positions if Sergio Pérez starts from the pits. This predicament arises from a strategic error, with the team being the only one not to send its drivers out at the end of Q1 when track conditions were improving. Esteban Ocon remains composed but squarely places the blame on the team.

“No, not really. The situation was that we weren’t going to go out again because there was no DRS. We underestimated the track improvement; it’s a significant strategic error, and it’s the second weekend in a row we’ve made such a mistake, when we never used to,” the French driver stated.

“We were tenth and 12th on our last runs, we had managed some good laps and put ourselves in strong positions. There was no reason to take risks, but the team decided to go ahead.”

“We had only one set of soft tyres left, which was understandable, but still, it would have been better to qualify for Q2 rather than stay in the garage and lose everything because there were better prospects, even though it was challenging.”

Pierre Gasly was less diplomatic than his teammate and sharply criticised his team, holding them accountable for his 20th place time: “The team simply made a mistake that cost us dearly today.”

Asked about the upcoming debrief, he was reticent but reiterated his criticism of Alpine: “These are matters we’ll discuss internally, but clearly, today was not the right course of action.”

Bruno Famin, the team director, admitted, “We made a mistake today in Q1 by being the only ones in the garage while the track was drying at the end of the session, and as a team, we are taking a hit.”

“Regardless of our performance level so far this weekend, it’s a bitter pill to swallow to be eliminated in this manner. We apologise to our drivers for not providing them the opportunity to do so during the session, and we will review together and implement measures to prevent this from happening again.”

“Tomorrow will be tough. We are far from our usual grid position, and we will need things to go exactly as we hope to achieve a good result. That said, we are a team of fighters, and we will never give up.”