Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer commented on the result of the first race of the season in Bahrain, highlighting areas for improvement and sharing his expectations for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Question: How does the team evaluate the results of the first race of the season?
Otmar Safnauer: We left Bahrain with mixed feelings. On the one hand, we are happy that Pierre Gasly, who started at the back, recovered and earned points for ninth. To achieve the result, he had to make the right strategic decisions and demonstrate a high race pace – all this was done.
On the other hand, many mistakes were made during the weekend – we can do our job better, and for that we must add. I believe this race by Esteban Okon was an isolated case, which was the result of a combination of mistakes, both himself and the team. There is no doubt that we will return to Saudi Arabia stronger.
We know the A523 has potential, but we haven’t used it to its full potential yet – we still have work to do to achieve it. Ahead of a long season, we have opened the scoring points earned and must continue to work as a team.
Q: In what areas does the team need to improve?
Otmar Safnauer: It is important to remember that there is only one race behind us and twenty-two more ahead of us. We’ve only managed to evaluate the car on one track, so there’s still a lot to learn and fine-tune. Our pace on the track looks better than on a fast lap, so we understand that the main area we need to improve on is speed with an empty tank.
Esteban has done a good job reaching the final of qualifying, while Pierre still needs to work to get the tires into their optimum operating range and get the most out of them in one fast lap. We work as a team to get further up the grid.
Q: What do you think of the circuit in Jeddah?
Otmar Safnauer: There is no doubt that the racers love the track in Jeddah. The race track is fast, there is little time to rest, some sections are simply unforgettable – this is probably the most exciting urban track on the calendar.
In Jeddah, average speed and fast corners – this circuit is fundamentally different from Bahrain. It will be interesting to evaluate the machines in other conditions and understand what position we are in.
For the Jeddah race, the track was changed slightly to improve visibility for the riders, so it will be important to get their feedback on the changes.
Q: What would be considered a good result in Saudi Arabia?
Otmar Safnauer: I want the weekend to go smoothly, we made no operational errors and earned points with two cars. It’s interesting to watch a different type join forces on the track, but I’m pretty sure more can be expected from us.
The team is determined to run a much better race in Jeddah. It is nice to see that everyone is motivated to improve results.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
