F1 | Bitter Bahrain GP for Alpine

Bitter debut for Alpine, which failed to bring home even a single point in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Lots of bad luck with both drivers, especially with Alonso, solidly in the points for most of the race, but the two-time world champion was forced to retire due to baking paper picked up by his car, which ended up in the rear brake ducts, irremediably overheating the car. For Ocon, after a negative qualifying, the race was proceeding quite well, albeit outside the points zone, but unfortunately the Frenchman was hit squarely by Vettel after overtaking on the main straight, and this effectively forced him to thirteenth place in the final.

“It's not the best start to the season for us, we were very unlucky both in qualifying and in the race – said Marcin Budkowski, executive director of Alpine. Both cars made a good start, gaining some positions on the first lap, with Fernando firmly in the top ten. After its first stop there was a problem that forced us to reduce the car's performance, while after the second pit stop some baking paper got stuck inside the rear brake vents, which it overheated the car and forced us to retire. Unlucky day for him, he was going well."

“Esteban did a good race starting from sixteenth place, he was heading towards the points, but then he was hit by Sebastian, and this caused some damage to the car. There is work to do before Imola to give the car good performance and be able to fight in the middle of the pack, where every tenth counts. We can't wait to get back on track in a few weeks."