Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are yet to score points as a late car concept change saw the Enstone team sideline while their midfield rivals all made gains significant compared to last year.
Early improvements at the Japanese Grand Prix appeared to provide a glimmer of hope, with Ocon advancing through Q2 to qualify 13th, but he and Gasly were powerless to fight for points, their woes compounded by early damage.
Alpine says it has now managed to bring forward an upgrade package for the Miami Grand Prix in May by one lap, with one of its A524 cars benefiting from the new suite of parts.
The team confirmed to Autosport that the upgrade consists of a revised floor that will be fitted to Ocon’s car.
Both drivers are expected to use the new specification starting in Miami, with Gasly given priority the next time a single package becomes available.
“The last race in Japan underlined the scale of the challenge that awaits us to improve our level of performance,” said team boss Bruno Famin.
“We need to develop the performance of the car in order to fight for higher positions. Although it was good to bring the first updates to the car at Suzuka, we need to do more.
“The team worked extremely hard and we were able to improve a car this weekend, one race ahead of schedule.”
Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Alpine’s decision to accelerate its upgrade program is a bold move as this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix returns after a four-season absence. The amount of valid data available for the Shanghai circuit is therefore limited.
Additionally, Shanghai is the first sprint event of the 2024 season, meaning teams only have one 60-minute practice session to master their car’s settings.
“The cars are completely different from the 2019 specifications, so the preparation has been different than normal,” Famin added.
“As it is a sprint event we have less preparation and so it is crucial to be tuned from the start. Both drivers were at Enstone last week on the simulator and took the time to be better prepared for the challenge.
Bringing new parts to a sprint event fell to Alpine at last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
While not directly related to its floor upgrade, Alpine’s weekend spiraled out of control after reliability issues during FP1 limited its operation, meaning it tackled the Friday qualifying with virtually no data on its new specs.
He then had to change the settings of Ocon’s car after noticing alarming wear on the boards, relegating the Frenchman to a start in the pit lane.
