Emotions briefly ran high at Alpine over a team order in Japan – The team went into analysis and wants to learn its lessons from the situation
Alpine has admitted it needs to communicate better with its drivers following the team order controversy at the Japanese Grand Prix. Pierre Gasly had been told to let teammate Esteban Ocon through to ninth place on the final lap of the race and reacted in a suitably angry manner.
Alpine had issued the order because they had previously swapped drivers to see if Gasly could catch Fernando Alonso, who was ahead of them.
However, Gasly felt the late position change was unnecessary and was upset, partly because there had been no announcement beforehand. Interim team boss Bruno Famin has therefore thoroughly investigated the circumstances of the incident and admitted that the pit wall could have done a better job of clearing Gasly.
Famin: Communication was “not optimal “
However, he stands by the decisions made that day, saying the focus is always on helping the team as a whole. “Our priority first and foremost is to get as many points as possible every race weekend,” he says ahead of the upcoming Qatar Grand Prix.
“We saw the chance for Pierre to fight for eighth place with fresher tyres. We had to try to do that. Our communication with him was maybe not optimal and in the future we will make sure it is.”
“Both drivers are clearly motivated to succeed and maximise the team result, and I’m glad that’s the case,” Famin stressed, invoking team peace.
No bad mood at Alpine after team order
Gasly, meanwhile, also takes a more philosophical view of what happened, having sat down with the team after the race to discuss the events. “Sometimes emotions boil over and, of course, as a driver I want to push the limit and get the best possible result,” said the Frenchman.
“I was definitely frustrated afterwards, but as a team we were able to discuss strategy and execution. And the most important thing is to maximise the overall result of the team on a given weekend. “
Alpine struggled to find the back of the points in Japan as it struggled to recover from its poor grid positions, with both Gasly and Esteban Ocon exiting early in Q2.
Goal for Qatar: improve qualifying performance
The team knows it needs to improve its pace on a fast lap if it is to capitalise on what should be strong form from its challenger this year.
“We had a strong result, but once again we didn’t maximise our qualifying pace on Saturday,” said Gasly. “That meant we were eliminated in Q2. That’s something we need to work on because we need a better starting position to give us the best chance on Sunday.”
Team boss Famin points out, “We recovered from both cars being eliminated in Q2 on Saturday and turned the poor grid positions into double points. Esteban was involved in the chaos at the start, which is normal when you start the race from the middle of the grid.”
“While he did a good job to get back into the points, we need to do a better job to have both cars in Q3 and be better placed on the grid so we avoid these kind of incidents. “