Alpine brought a substantial upgrade package with a new floor to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but its plans backfired spectacularly on the first sprint weekend of the F1 2023 season.

With just 60 minutes of practice to set up the tuned car, Pierre Gasly’s car caught fire after just seven laps from a hydraulic leak, while Esteban Ocon’s They were limited to eight laps due to gearbox problems, which put both Alpine cars in trouble.

With Gasly then crashing in qualifying and Ocon having to start from the pit lane due to concerns about wear on his plates, the team decided to break the parc ferme rule and adjust the ride height.

Gasly and Ocon, who finished in 14th and 15th hours respectively, also had good results in Saturday’s sprint.

But despite the challenging and frantic weekend, the team’s sporting director Alpine Permane believes Alpine still has a good idea of ​​how its new floor will perform and the results were better than hoped for.

When asked if the Enstone team got the answers it wanted, Permane replied: “Yes, thank God, we did.

“It worked, the fact that it went a bit over the top, so that’s a positive to take away from this weekend.

“Again, it looks like we’re going to continue this trend of being able to put things in the car without really having to test them too much, which is a huge benefit.

“As more and more things happened, our confidence grew over the last year.”

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A523, stopped due to fire

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures

Alpine will continue to bring news footage for the next two races in Miami and Imola, which will return to normal weekend format.

“We’ve got something in Miami, we’ve got something in Imola, I’m not really sure where we are,” Permane said. Good stuff is on the way, and confident it will be great the first time it works.”

Baku was an example of an unfortunate start to Alpine’s season, finishing sixth with just eight points, which doesn’t reflect the team’s fifth-place finish in the pace rankings.

Permane believes it is still possible for the team to maintain their fourth-place ambitions despite the widening gap between Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari.

“I think so. I think we have to,” he replied. “We’ve got to keep doing our job, updating the car and improving the car.

“Then suppose, like last year, we progress at a better rate than most, if not all, of the others.

“It’s been a long season. We’ve got 19 games to go and a long, long way to go. We’ve had some real mishaps, but we’re still absolutely aiming for it.”