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F1 pundit Scott Mitchell-Malm believes the Alpine F1 team underachieved at the Spanish GP after they could only muster five points from the race.
The French outfit looked competitive throughout the weekend and found themselves in the middle of the battle with Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Pierre Gasly qualified P4 and Esteban Ocon was in the top 10.
But Gasly was given a cumulative six-place grid drop for two separate infringements in qualifying, which cost them a few points.
While appearing on The Race podcast, Mitchell-Malm explained why he thought Alpine underachieved in Barcelona. He said:
"I think Alpine underachieved against the level of performance that was shown and that was possible. I don't think they would have finished massively high up the order. I think fighting the Aston Martins would have been a bit better if they had the track position Gasly should've had. I don't think they have lost a huge amount.
"They are ultimately the lead midfield team. On their good days, they can get as close as possible to Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Mercedes. It felt like a better result was on the cards on what's possible but unfortunately Gasly was the architect of his own failure,"
"It was a tough race with varying strategies and gameplans" - Alpine F1 team boss
Alpine F1 Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer stated that it was a tough day for the team in Barcelona as they could only accumulate five points after showing a lot of promise.
As per F1.com, he said:
“We come away from the Spanish Grand Prix with five points after Esteban finished eighth and Pierre tenth. It was a tough race with varying strategies and game plans. For Esteban he did a good job to be in the mix for the top six, just missing out in the end and there are certainly a couple of aspects from his race to be improved for next time.
"Pierre already lost six places due to the grid penalty after a superb qualifying yesterday where he was fourth and then lost another four positions on lap one after being caught on the wrong side of a scrum of cars in the opening turns.
"He did a great job to recover those places in the end to score a point. Of course, we are aiming for more than minor points – like last week in Monaco – but the performance of the car is solid and we’re taking the fight to those ahead. There are some things we must improve – small details to get right – and we look forward to racing in Canada later this month ready to keep battling for those higher positions.”
It will be fascinating to see if Alpine will be closer to the top teams in the coming weekends.
