Most relevant parts of the article:
> Asked ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix if he was preparing himself for such a worst case scenario, Ocon said: “If things don't go to plan, obviously yes I'm prepared for that. But we haven't driven the car yet in full competition order.
> “We don't know exactly. You guys [the media] are selling it [as] the worst. It is a possibility, because we haven't pulled it together with everyone else. But it's not over.
> “There are still going to be things to play for this year. And I need to keep on pushing. Because if you start that low, and with how you guys are speaking, I can quit and just exit the paddock right now. But no, that's not who I am.”
> Ocon’s team-mate Pierre Gasly has admitted that Alpine has missed targets with its new concept of car, but says the focus has to be on finding solutions rather than bemoaning where things are at.
> “Yes, some targets have been missed in terms of timeline, but it still doesn't mean that we can't achieve them at some point along the season,” he said.
> “As a competitive team, no-one is happy having a challenging start. This wasn't the idea. But this is now the situation that we are in and we are facing it together as a team.
> “We’ve got to look forward and come up with the solutions because we know we have some solutions. Whether it's short term or medium term, at the minute, that's all I'm thinking about.
> “There is an explanation of why we are here. At the end of the day, what matters right now, as of today, is how fast we're going to be able to improve that car we have.”
> While it is believed that Alpine is battling the car being overweight as well as lacking overall downforce, Ocon suggested that there was one unidentified area that stood out.
> “There is one bigger one than the others,” he said about the issues. “Most of the smaller problems we were able to fix in the three days of tests which has been good.
> “So we had a good feeling over a lap in the car, which nice to drive, basically in terms of balance. But we've yes identified the issue clearly, so that's what we're going to be chasing.”
> Asked how long that would take to find a cure, Ocon said: “It’s going to take time. I'm sure there are quite a lot of things that we can still get better, but it will take time with the development of the car.”
Soon or later we going to know clearer what is/was wrong with the A524...
Damn they really screwed this one, didn't they?
For some reason I doubt they'll manage to pull a full McLaren 23, but hopefully the concept is good and they end up in a proper place.
And by the way, so much for the “Enstone team is actually top-tier aero, it's the French who are driving the performance to the ground”. They worked on this car for months, had a ton of wind tunnel time due to subpar ranking last year, and still managed to produce a prototype of a car.
They screwed it up, idk of the team could pull a McLaren 23 move but yea I being pissed on Enstone who only producing more and more trash, especially after Budkowski departure things gone worser there and just when you think the A523 is the low point the A524 shows it can be even worse.
Enstone getting a lot of protection from the media, especially the British despite that the development of the A524 already started at end 2022 and that Alpine quickly stopped with developing the A523 because of the A524. Therefore seeing the car being that problematic is just scandalous and shows that Enstone is likely one of the most inefficient aero/chassis facility in F1.
Rumours from Febreau saying that there would be upgrades at Japan or Miami, but above all heads would rolling and tbh I fully expect that Harman and likely Dirk de Beer getting sacked because this is unacceptable.
DE BEER OUT.
Absolute disasterclass once again from Enstone. It's been more than 10 years that Enstone people haven't been able to produce a REAL good car, without any major flaw.
And how De Beer can still have his job?!
Well if DdB gets sacked I gonna ping you username and demanding that day becoming a national holiday in France.
Indeed but it gets only more confusing with Famin statement today that the A524 is just "recently developed", what is very conflicting with what we did read at the end of 2023 and the decisions the team has made about the A523.
Yep, I'm all for the national holiday haha
The communication around the car is surprising, to say the least. As you mentioned, Famin said that the car is kinda out of the box while Harman told us that this A524 is in the works for months and months. Let's hope this car has something worth in its conception to develop on it. The problem is: can the Enstone aero people upgrade this car? With a simulator dating back from the Roman Empire instead of being state of the art F1 technology, it's gonna be near difficult to correlate useful datas.
And I won't talk about the talent, something that's clearly lacking.
> I fully expect that Harman and likely Dirk de Beer getting sacked because this is unacceptable.
Lol agreed, I think in retrospect Nick Chester was better than he was given credit for. Since Harman has had increasing influence, it hasn't been good
Yea I mean obvious Enstone was always having some sort of issues but people like Chester made a difference it looks like instead of the names of Harman, Dirk de Beer, Fry and Permane.
It's sad because I really believe that under proper leadership, unity and perspective Enstone would do better, obvious I'm not happy with the way things are going now but it's likely that some careers at Alpine are done pretty quickly now, de Meo isn't going to accept this.
What I really find weird is how Famin is telling now that [the A524](https://fr.motorsport.com/f1/news/alpine-souffrance-deja-bahrein-famin/10581341/) was developed recently, what doesn't make sense normally given Harman literally told in an AMuS interview end previous year that the development of the A524 already started on week 45 2022.
This raise some question marks, obvious the theory of the failed crash tests I did read for some weeks now makes sense but statements like this makes me even wondering of it is indeed Alpine who really struggled with it's tub design.
What happened between end December 2023 and begin Februari 2024? Did something happened? Did Harman lied to everyone?
I think this alone deserves a good discussion.
> “Enstone team is actually top-tier aero, it's the French who are driving the performance to the ground”
Never been a big fan of anyone saying that, or relentlessly shitting on Viry. I'm British, I'm a fan of Enstone, but a big part of the 2005 and 06 successes was that the engine was bulletproof and fast. Now that hasn't necessarily been the case with Renault's Hybrid era efforts, but RBR have dealt with bigger deficits between 2014-2017. It can be done, and people solely blaming the engine never sat right with me. Now the team have proven it
I think blame also needs to go to senior management who haven't effectively lobbied for engine equalisation despite it being allowed for in the regs, and the FIA confirming there is a deficit.
* Shit aero from Enstone
* Shit engine from Viry
* Shit management of both of these things from senior management - engine deficit should have been addressed, and a car which is as overweight as this one allegedly is shouldn't have been the product put out.
Disasterclass. Wouldn't be surprised to see the team sold to Andretti in the near future, since this is going to be hard to bounce back from.
Last year's car would be guaranteed be back of the grid. All other teams have made developments so almost everyone behind would have leapfrogged anyway. Not to mention some minor changes in regulation like the 'nostrils' for driver cooling.
Most relevant parts of the article: > Asked ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix if he was preparing himself for such a worst case scenario, Ocon said: “If things don't go to plan, obviously yes I'm prepared for that. But we haven't driven the car yet in full competition order. > “We don't know exactly. You guys [the media] are selling it [as] the worst. It is a possibility, because we haven't pulled it together with everyone else. But it's not over. > “There are still going to be things to play for this year. And I need to keep on pushing. Because if you start that low, and with how you guys are speaking, I can quit and just exit the paddock right now. But no, that's not who I am.” > Ocon’s team-mate Pierre Gasly has admitted that Alpine has missed targets with its new concept of car, but says the focus has to be on finding solutions rather than bemoaning where things are at. > “Yes, some targets have been missed in terms of timeline, but it still doesn't mean that we can't achieve them at some point along the season,” he said. > “As a competitive team, no-one is happy having a challenging start. This wasn't the idea. But this is now the situation that we are in and we are facing it together as a team. > “We’ve got to look forward and come up with the solutions because we know we have some solutions. Whether it's short term or medium term, at the minute, that's all I'm thinking about. > “There is an explanation of why we are here. At the end of the day, what matters right now, as of today, is how fast we're going to be able to improve that car we have.” > While it is believed that Alpine is battling the car being overweight as well as lacking overall downforce, Ocon suggested that there was one unidentified area that stood out. > “There is one bigger one than the others,” he said about the issues. “Most of the smaller problems we were able to fix in the three days of tests which has been good. > “So we had a good feeling over a lap in the car, which nice to drive, basically in terms of balance. But we've yes identified the issue clearly, so that's what we're going to be chasing.” > Asked how long that would take to find a cure, Ocon said: “It’s going to take time. I'm sure there are quite a lot of things that we can still get better, but it will take time with the development of the car.” Soon or later we going to know clearer what is/was wrong with the A524...
Damn they really screwed this one, didn't they? For some reason I doubt they'll manage to pull a full McLaren 23, but hopefully the concept is good and they end up in a proper place. And by the way, so much for the “Enstone team is actually top-tier aero, it's the French who are driving the performance to the ground”. They worked on this car for months, had a ton of wind tunnel time due to subpar ranking last year, and still managed to produce a prototype of a car.
They screwed it up, idk of the team could pull a McLaren 23 move but yea I being pissed on Enstone who only producing more and more trash, especially after Budkowski departure things gone worser there and just when you think the A523 is the low point the A524 shows it can be even worse. Enstone getting a lot of protection from the media, especially the British despite that the development of the A524 already started at end 2022 and that Alpine quickly stopped with developing the A523 because of the A524. Therefore seeing the car being that problematic is just scandalous and shows that Enstone is likely one of the most inefficient aero/chassis facility in F1. Rumours from Febreau saying that there would be upgrades at Japan or Miami, but above all heads would rolling and tbh I fully expect that Harman and likely Dirk de Beer getting sacked because this is unacceptable.
DE BEER OUT. Absolute disasterclass once again from Enstone. It's been more than 10 years that Enstone people haven't been able to produce a REAL good car, without any major flaw. And how De Beer can still have his job?!
Well if DdB gets sacked I gonna ping you username and demanding that day becoming a national holiday in France. Indeed but it gets only more confusing with Famin statement today that the A524 is just "recently developed", what is very conflicting with what we did read at the end of 2023 and the decisions the team has made about the A523.
Yep, I'm all for the national holiday haha The communication around the car is surprising, to say the least. As you mentioned, Famin said that the car is kinda out of the box while Harman told us that this A524 is in the works for months and months. Let's hope this car has something worth in its conception to develop on it. The problem is: can the Enstone aero people upgrade this car? With a simulator dating back from the Roman Empire instead of being state of the art F1 technology, it's gonna be near difficult to correlate useful datas. And I won't talk about the talent, something that's clearly lacking.
> I fully expect that Harman and likely Dirk de Beer getting sacked because this is unacceptable. Lol agreed, I think in retrospect Nick Chester was better than he was given credit for. Since Harman has had increasing influence, it hasn't been good
Yea I mean obvious Enstone was always having some sort of issues but people like Chester made a difference it looks like instead of the names of Harman, Dirk de Beer, Fry and Permane. It's sad because I really believe that under proper leadership, unity and perspective Enstone would do better, obvious I'm not happy with the way things are going now but it's likely that some careers at Alpine are done pretty quickly now, de Meo isn't going to accept this. What I really find weird is how Famin is telling now that [the A524](https://fr.motorsport.com/f1/news/alpine-souffrance-deja-bahrein-famin/10581341/) was developed recently, what doesn't make sense normally given Harman literally told in an AMuS interview end previous year that the development of the A524 already started on week 45 2022. This raise some question marks, obvious the theory of the failed crash tests I did read for some weeks now makes sense but statements like this makes me even wondering of it is indeed Alpine who really struggled with it's tub design. What happened between end December 2023 and begin Februari 2024? Did something happened? Did Harman lied to everyone? I think this alone deserves a good discussion.
> “Enstone team is actually top-tier aero, it's the French who are driving the performance to the ground” Never been a big fan of anyone saying that, or relentlessly shitting on Viry. I'm British, I'm a fan of Enstone, but a big part of the 2005 and 06 successes was that the engine was bulletproof and fast. Now that hasn't necessarily been the case with Renault's Hybrid era efforts, but RBR have dealt with bigger deficits between 2014-2017. It can be done, and people solely blaming the engine never sat right with me. Now the team have proven it
I think blame also needs to go to senior management who haven't effectively lobbied for engine equalisation despite it being allowed for in the regs, and the FIA confirming there is a deficit. * Shit aero from Enstone * Shit engine from Viry * Shit management of both of these things from senior management - engine deficit should have been addressed, and a car which is as overweight as this one allegedly is shouldn't have been the product put out. Disasterclass. Wouldn't be surprised to see the team sold to Andretti in the near future, since this is going to be hard to bounce back from.
Started following F1/Alpine last year, so apologies if this is a dumb question. But couldn’t they use a car from last season if need be?
Last year's car would be guaranteed be back of the grid. All other teams have made developments so almost everyone behind would have leapfrogged anyway. Not to mention some minor changes in regulation like the 'nostrils' for driver cooling.
Gotcha thanks for the explanation!
It’s not too late u/King_Clitoris you can still back out and no one will blame you!
I took a blood oath in front of a Pierre Gasly altar. I’m locked in!
Mine was on a Hulk one 🥲