{"id":17642,"date":"2025-04-13T22:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T22:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/17642\/"},"modified":"2025-04-13T22:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T22:28:12","slug":"p20-to-p4-on-bahrain-gp-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/17642\/","title":{"rendered":"P20 to P4 on Bahrain GP grid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI knew after my last corner [in Q3] this lap would put me in a very good place,\u201d Pierre Gasly<\/a> told media after qualifying for Formula 1’s 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix. \u201cBut nowhere near close thinking it would put us like four hundredths off the top three and only three tenths off pole position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gasly qualified fifth, which became fourth after Mercedes<\/a>\u2019 Andrea Kimi Antonelli was demoted for a pitlane procedural breach<\/a>, while rookie team-mate Jack Doohan<\/a> narrowly missed the cut for Q3. It was a stark contrast from events of the 2024 Bahrain GP, the season opener: technical director Matt Harman and aero chief Dirk de Beer were already preparing to clear their desks when Gasly and Esteban Ocon<\/a>, his team-mate at the time, qualified on the back row.<\/p>\n

Two technical restructures ensued in which Alpine<\/a> adopted a McLaren-style split of responsibilities across the engineering department, then recruited ex-Ferrari chief engineer David Sanchez as executive technical director presiding over the new arrangement. Former team principal Flavio Briatore returned as \u2018executive advisor\u2019, and Bruno Famin was shifted out of the TP role in favour of Hitech GP boss Oliver Oakes.<\/p>\n

\"Flavio <\/p>\n

Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor of Alpine F1<\/p>\n

Photo by: Andy Hone \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

It was well known in the F1 paddock that much useful energy had been wasted in recent years through mutual recriminations between Alpine\u2019s F1 factory in the Oxfordshire countryside and Renault\u2019s engine facility in Viry-Chatillon near Paris. Briatore resolved that battle by terminating Viry\u2019s involvement in the project and arranging to buy in a Mercedes power unit from 2026 onwards.<\/p>\n

Subjective impressions as well as objective data now indicate that decision was the correct one, however brutal.<\/p>\n

“Have you seen how quick the Alpine is in Turns 6 and 11?” Carlos Sainz<\/a> remarked to Sky Sports F1 after qualifying. “It’s as quick as a McLaren<\/a> through those corners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say they\u2019re 0.3s down on engine. With a Mercedes engine it would be on the front row\u2026”<\/p>\n

\"Pierre <\/p>\n

Pierre Gasly, Alpine<\/p>\n

Photo by: Clive Mason\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The principal weakness of the current Renault PU is that its hybrid system is the least efficient on the grid. It tends to run out of electrical augmentation on the straights, a phenomenon known in F1 parlance as \u2018clipping\u2019.<\/p>\n

In Shanghai the team had to beef up its rear wing \u2018in the field\u2019 when it failed the FIA\u2019s new, more stringent deflection-test parameters. Given the PU\u2019s known deficits it would be no surprise if the team was being aggressive on aero elasticity in this area to find straightline speed.<\/p>\n

This impression gained credence last weekend in Suzuka, where GPS analysis indicated Gasly was among the quickest through the \u2018S\u2019 curves at the beginning of the lap but lost out through the two straights later in the lap, on his way to qualifying 11th.<\/p>\n

“They are quite obvious, the areas we are losing,” was his discreet conclusion afterwards.<\/p>\n

\"Pierre <\/p>\n

Pierre Gasly, Alpine<\/p>\n

Photo by: Bryn Lennon – Getty Images<\/p>\n

While conditions in Bahrain have presented a moving target for car set-up given the race is slightly later in the year, and daytime temperatures have been higher, when the Alpine is on song it has a much more surefooted front end than last year\u2019s car. Finding performance is now a matter of fine-tuning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a good improvement \u2013 even in Q1 I wasn\u2019t comfortable in the car, I was sliding a lot, many snaps in many places,\u201d said Gasly. \u201cWe changed a few things, some of the settings I could do inside the car, and we managed to improve run by run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need this \u2013 we know it\u2019s extremely tight [in the midfield], we still haven\u2019t scored any points this year, we\u2019ve been more on the back foot in the midfield. But this weekend we\u2019ve put things together for a very strong performance so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few things I have in mind but it\u2019s more about the package and what the car is capable of doing. Today it really felt like it gave me the control, I was able to push and drive it the way I wanted \u2013 the front was very reactive, through the high-speed [corners] the car was extremely good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the last corner I managed to place the car exactly how I wanted, which hasn\u2019t been the case so far this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [optimal car performance] window is just extremely small everywhere, you have to be smooth with all you do inside the car to really get the best out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pierre <\/p>\n

Pierre Gasly, Alpine<\/p>\n

Photo by: Zak Mauger \/ Motorsport Images<\/p>\n

Having a narrow peak performance \u2018window\u2019 is a common thread up and down the grid. While Alpine has yet to score a point this season, the potential is clearly there and it is chiefly now the power unit holding the car back.<\/p>\n

Last year the A524 was significantly overweight at the start of the season, a fact rendered obvious by the quantity of bare carbon fibre on show and the car\u2019s pendulous reluctance to turn into corners. A crash weight-loss programme and successful performance upgrades in the second half of the season began the upwards trajectory to where the A525 is now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car, honestly, in the high-speeds \u2013 [Turns] 6, 7, 11 \u2013 when I think of 12 months ago, what I was doing in those corners, and what I was able to do here today, it\u2019s very impressive what the team has been able to do,\u201d said Gasly. \u201cA year ago we were qualifying P20 and I couldn\u2019t believe it, here we are three tenths off pole.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just need to keep that dynamic and momentum \u2013 there are great things happening in the team, we just need to make sure it keeps going and use that as much as we can for next season as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photos from Bahrain GP – Race<\/p>\n

In this article<\/p>\n

Stuart Codling\n<\/p>\n

Formula 1\n<\/p>\n

Alpine\n<\/p>\n

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics<\/p>\n

Subscribe to news alerts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI knew after my last corner [in Q3] this lap would put me in a very good place,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4289,4293,4202,4199,707,4200,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-17642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-alpine","9":"tag-bahrain-gp","10":"tag-bahrain-international-circuit","11":"tag-f1","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114333017992884516","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}