It’s been a rough old Formula One season for Alpine: The French works team lost a team principal, a driver, an engine factory, a handful of technical leaders and every single F1 Grand Prix it entered over the course of 2024.
With an overweight vehicle and an underperforming engine, Alpine’s French driving pair of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly struggled to compete against the rest of the field. When the team arrived in Sao Paulo last weekend for the Brazilian Grand Prix, it found itself in ninth place of 10 in the Constructors’ Championship — a wildly disappointing position for a title-winning outfit.
In two days, everything changed.