Why does NOBODY want to drive for Alpine?
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- čas přidán 3. 05. 2024
- The mysterious problem at Alpine... why does everyone keep leaving a team that's pretty competitive?
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Alpine went from El Plan to L Plan real quick
gold.
“So we are thinking Plan L, Plan L, question”
@@guitarsimon1 "Oh my god"
El Plan was an escape plan all along.
@Simon Singh ferrari be like
I feel so bad for the people working at Alpine because they have to deal with this Ferrari strategy levels of management
I feel bad for them cause they gotta work at Alpine... its clear that team doesn't treat their own people well.
Ikr, I’d trust Ferrari’s own driver academy more than Alpine’s
I would love a team with the management of Alpine and the strategists of Ferrari. Chaos and unbelievable fails both during the season and the offseason, it'll be more over the top than Drive to Survive.
🤣🤣
2 birds with 1 bullet roast right there.
In example of Nyck de Vries. He got 3 opinions. If he chose be in Williams, he can one day be in Mercedes. If he chose Alpha Tauri, he can one day be in Red Bull. If he chose Alpine, it can be the dead end.
Also Ocon looks like not a good partner after all.
but for now it's not confirmed
One day be in a Mercedes or Red Bull 😂🤣, dude he is not that good
@@metro3313 For a 2nd driver? He is fine for that.
@@gpaje Red Bull will get a Red Bull junior once Perez retires, Mercedes will either get Norris, Leclerc or Ocon
@@metro3313 Leclerc already regretting signing with Ferrari 😢
Whether it be arrogance or incompetence, Alpine only have themselves to blame at this point. You do not tell the man who beat Senna that you “no longer need his advice.”
Not only Prost was a genius on track, he also had his own team at some point and has Gigachad levels of insider knowledge. How can you not want to hear what a man like that has to say?
why not both?
@@RafitoOoO He was probably criticizing the way Alpine was functioning and the ceo/boss probably can't take criticism.
@@RafitoOoO Maybe there's a frail ego running the show - typical "If you're not a yes-man you're not my man" issues.
@@RafitoOoO the problem with big corporation, they have an ego to be protected...Their boss wanted a yesman and do as he wanted
"My dream is to join Alpine before moving to a new team if possible!!!"
Said No One Ever.
My dream is to join Alpine
Said no one ever
@@ThatOneDude7 😂😂😂
Thing is Alpine want to compare themselves with other manufacturer teams and they dont want to risk signing a rookie..but in reality they are a midfield team
Said Daniel ricciardo
@@cornoffthecob1018 then he left😂
Zhou has even publicly said he's glad he's not part of their mess anymore 💀
That says a lot lol
@paper plane his Alfa Romeo fails Bottas & Zhou
@paper plane he isn't a pay driver no more, he's proved he deserves to be there on merit and talent
@paper plane spoken like someone who doesn't pay attention lmao, you just a toxic fan
@paper plane buddy zhou has had a solid season bottas gets points by being 7th while zhou is 9th you do not watch the races. And the Alfa is shit what are u on
From having 3 drivers in the beginning to just 1 now 😂😂😂
And Ocon too!😄
Sacre Bleu
@@mikespearwood3914 Ocon himself has been hinting that he may leave them once his contract expires
@@khawajabasit977 He won't get a better seat than Alpine. He was once tipped to join Mercedes but I think that train has left the station already.
@@soundscape26 Has it? I don't know about you but for me he is the most likely candidate for Mercedes once Lewis retires
The first warning sign I caught on to was how Alain Prost blasted the team when they announced his resignation without allowing Prost to do it simultaneously
bro
ur back
do u remember me?
Otmar Whatshisname has about as much personality as a stale fish...
@@lite4919 let's call him omar sufle
Remember when Prost left and called the team “a mess” …
Honestly I feel far more is happening in management than we will ever know. Their senior and young driver leaving willingly… to me suggests a lot is happening we don’t know about
I'm not a Fernando fan. But seeing how he's been driving at 41 continues to impress me at new levels.
His point about Alpine Academy is right. What is the point of having it when you are not giving them chance anyway? Atleast Red Bull/Alpha Tauri give their youth academy drivers some chance despite their infamous, awful treatment about them.
At this point, Alpine should just sell to other parties or just withdraw from F1 altogether if they keep messing their management and PR up. I know its unlikely, but damn this is not good sign that i doubt they can recover the mess.
Aitken is shit, Lundgaard is shit, Zhou is fairly decent but there is no way you should be getting rid of either Ocon or Alonso for him, only Piastri was a miss but they did try to get him, because when Alonso refused the one year contract extendsion they tried to get Piastri but he refused and went to Mclaren instead, what Alpine really nead is a 2nd team on the grid that they provide engines to from 2026 onwards, someone like Williams for example
@@metro3313 they didn't try to get him until after Alonzo left. they missed him because they played him
@@davidbrown8517 you have a point but that said knowing how to race and knowing how to develop racing drivers are too very different things. not everybody who's good at said sport is good at coaching said sport
@@davidbrown8517 Agreed with ya. RB give their juniors chances but, as you said, they are not a charity team. It might seem harsh but if you don't perform in the given time, you are out as there are other junior drivers who also need the chance. Obviously if they still see the potential then you are not completely out, just like how they help Albon get another chance in different series and now back in F1.
@@blist8329 Marko only decides who to bring in and whom to boot. The drivers are supposed to coach themselves. Redbull expected everyone to perform like Max because they didn't have such a competitive car during that time.
No Alpine haven’t learned anything considering they’re STILL bad mouthing Piastri’s loyalty even after details have been shared with Alpine being the one playing games
"Am I out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong."
@paper plane that’s was months after the contract he did have with alpine expire. There was nothing given to Piastri over going to Williams or anything else. Also if we are looking at drivers on loan to Williams, Albon is still on retainer with RedBull because they keep their contracts up to date. Alpine didn’t and let’s not forget this is Formula 1, verbal agreements mean nothing this business IS cut throat. Otmar himself said he wasn’t going to leave Aston Martin for Alpine because they were loyal to their team. Yet where is he now? Oscar had been promised that talks and paperwork would resume after the car launched, the talks didn’t resume for months after and it was only a outline of a proposal /which is meaningless/ that’s wasn’t even guaranteed. Considering Williams also has a driver in F2 that is doing good and could be given a seat in the 2023 williams
@paper plane they fucked around for ages before they offered him that Williams seat, missed their own deadlines multiple times. Of course at that point after a year of nothing and looking at only a Williams seat in the future he’d jump ship. I personally don’t think he owes them anything. They funded his career so that he could drive for them in the future and then decided they weren’t going to offer him an alpine seat until potentially 2024/25, maybe if they were Merc or Redbull it’d be worth waiting that long but he could have the same opportunity carwise straight away, he’d be a fool to wait.
@paper plane the problem is he verbally offered to Williams but nothing guaranteed... Considering Williams have De Vries, Sargeant , and some other driver that not assuring enough
@paper plane
That seat was never solid. If Alpine had locked in a Williams seat for Piastri, his contract would have locked him in for 2023. They didn't before the expiry of their option, so he became a free agent.
Lauren Rossi is single-handedly making the team an environment no one wants to work in. How are you gonna have a driver academy thinking their future talent to then refuse to promote them Jack Doohan is the only driver in their academy now and they don’t even believe in him I think he’s had a great 2nd half of the season I’d give him 1 more season in F2 but if he performs again surely he’s a candidate for the seat next year but then again we said that about Piastri even though he should have had the seat in 2021 the whole part of an academy is giving drivers a chance and that’s why Mercedes, Red Bull and even Ferrari will be better than them until they clean up their act. Lauren Rossi seems as though he thinks he’s gods gift anyway so arrogant.
Given the problems Alpine is having filling that second seat they might be better off bringing up Doohan from F2. He may not be absolutely ready but actually promoting a driver for once would be a good look for the team.
@@BiggieTrismegistus tbh I agree with you with that. I think he’s done a great job especially in the 2nd half of the season and at 19 he’s got a lot of potential he will be 20 by the time if he did get the seat but Alpine need to start using their academy otherwise what’s the point? He’s in a test at Hungary so he’s in contention with Giovanazzi and De Vries.
@paper plane Is that why he's happy with Mclaren? The team currently BELOW Alpine??? They have no one to blame but themselves. As a team, it is irresponsible to run a junior 'academy' without a legitimate path up to the F1 team.
The main problem is the lack of seats in F1 and drivers having longer and longer careers. Last year we had basically all the world champions since 2007 (albeit without Button and Rosberg) still on the grid. F1 needs to have a clause similar to F2 where you can only stay in for a certain amount of time after you win the championship before you have to make way. Otherwise, you get this situation where the F2 drivers have nowhere to go as the seats are all taken up with the older drivers.
@@lankyboy90 2005 even. Alonso, Räikkönen, Hamilton and Vettel were all there. They had 14 WDCs between them.
@paper plane I’m not whining I don’t even support them I support McLaren. Just don’t understand their logic lol.
Who would have believed that Cyril's squad would be missed...
Look at Laurent Rossi's resume post 2009, not exactly the qualifications you want for a sporting team CEO.
What’s on it?
@@phsycresconquest6636 Nothing bad actually, some managerial stuff for the Boston Consulting Group, manager at Google, and then he evolved in the Renault Group…
@@ae8524 when I heard google I just knew their management is going to be a disaster
Alpine's case is quite an oddity, sure they have a good car and r&d personnel to back it up however behind the scenes they have an awful reputation of messing things up with their management system. And it's a shame considering they used to have both Alain Prost and Marcin Budkowski in their stable. Since both of them, left things have gone towards a downwards spiral into the position they're in now (left with only Ocon as their remaining driver)
I'm eager to see how they would turn things round after all of the ordeal they went through this year, with them shutting down their junior programme it would leave some leverage for perhaps other veteran/experienced drivers to race for them next year...
They used to have Alonso as well, but it's what they deserve. All they have done throughout the last few years is expose how dogshit the management is, and how shit they treat their own people. I hope to see them sink into the backmarker obscurity they deserve. It's what you get for forcing out Alonso, Prost, and Budkowski... literally the only 3 people who were doing something positive for that team.
Rossi has come to the conclusion that young drivers should be offered contracts. That's an improvement.
Renault has been so terrible at managing their academy since their old days.
3:19 Still miss him. #AH19
don’t we all :(
“Junior academy” in comic sans was probably the highlight of the video and it sums up the alpine f1 program pretty well 😂
Fernando "who isn't afraid to burn a bridge… or 10" 😂
I think the problem is that in a Front-Running Team, it's too big of a Risk to run a Junior.
Red bull of Alpha Tauri, Ferrari have Haas/Alfa Romeo, Mercedes have Williams - who does Alpine have?
They don't have any teams that they supply Engines to and so don't have the Leverage that Merc/Ferrari uses to get their Juniors a seat.
I think this is their big problem.
The problem might be that they think of themselves as a front-running team when they actually aren't.
Well they aren't a front running team 😂
They are midfield team at best, what they need is a commitment to win a title.
That's what made Briatore and Cyril such kind of beasts back then.
Considering McLaren who is customer team have better position compare to them in past few years show how bad the Renault are even though they are the one who supply the engine to McLaren ....
@@mrboast2826 Oh, McLaren was Renault's customer team? I didn't know that, I thought it was the opposite, considering that Renault Academy is nothing compared to McLaren.
0:52 got a good chuckle out of me lol
"Lock them in with a contract" that's the bit you were missing there. Regardless of being appealing, you should at least give them the contract. Not hope that as they become free agents with no guarantees from you, they stick around due to loyalty and happy memories.
for real, especially for their best prospect, if they(driver) are good enough they will get offer from the outside
Agreed though they did have a chance for this year and it's their own fault they let the contract expire
And that contract especially with Alpine should have some track time for the drivers it could be testing but if they invest all the money just to put the drivers on the shelf and never use them the money isn't worth it and if they aren't locked down why would they stay
Alpine brought this on themselves for loving the temp contracts they impose their drivers. Even a perfect fit like Pierre Gasly doesn't want the second seat, you know you have serious problems.
Well, this aged nicely
Imagine saying "I want to be Ocon's teammate", would've been the most desperate words ever heard
The problem you haven't realized also, is that Alpine's junior program doesn't have a "lesser team" to test drivers. Mercedes has Williams, Redbull has Alpha Tauri... So basically when you say "WHY AREN'T YOU TESTIN YOUR JUNIOR DRIVERS", the problem is their whole strategy rest on ONE team, if they fuck up with a newcomer, they're done for the season (or multiple).
The cycle at Redbull/Mercedes is lettin the junior drivers prove themselves elsewhere for a few years then get them when they're already acclimated to F1. Basically its a money problem.
When Michael Andretti was talking about joining the grid he was insistent they'd use Renault engines. Perhaps his plan was to be the AlphaTauri/Haas/Williams style "junior team" to Alpine.
Nah, they had Caterham back then and it still didn't work out since that team was shit enough.
Then they need to make a decision: sacrifice Ocon or Alonso, or hire the young prodigy? They managed to piss off both Alonso & Piastri, and kept the obvious sacrificial lamb: Ocon. Management failure 101!
It's strange to see that someone actually knows what he's talking about 👍
1:44 This reasoning is completely wrong. The announcement from Ricciardo to join McLaren came in May 2020, just after a season with Renault. Keep in mind the F1 season didn't start until June due to the pandemic, so the good results he achieved with Renault came after he already announced to leave the team. He went to McLaren because there was an empty seat there after Sainz announced to join Ferrari and the team looked like a better option based on the 2019 season and after deciding to switch to Mercedes engines.
The problem was obvious when Zhou and Piastri were title rivals in F2. No way could both get a seat and it looked unlikely that either one would. To some degree seems like Piastri was better than expected and Zhou was never considered outside of he's Chinese and that has marketing opportunities.
I miss the Renault livery
I miss the Lotus Livery
Yeah, too many blue and white teams already. The yellow & black was iconic.
I don't
Factually incorrect. Daniel resigned before he achieved his 2 podiums, and if he could have seen 2 years into the future, would probably have reversed his decision in the 2nd half of 2020.
Yep, had to make a decision in the 2020 pre-season before a race was even held in 2020. Only had 2019 car to base a decision on. A shame because he made the 2020 car suit him, hence he had a great season.
This is the TikTok of F1 channels, can't expect him to make correct statements.
This is fckn BRUTAL and entirely accurate
Matt, you’ve forgotten some other key bits:
- they are a works team that only supply themselves atm - they are on a downward slope because in 2018 they supplied their own engines to three other customers
- apart from having their own PU, they have an impressive facility in Enstone, which is comparable to Red Bull and and Mercedes - yet they’ve been consistently under delivering since the came back to the sport 6 years ago
- when they came back to the sport in 2016, they had a five-year-plan of becoming the world champions - yet they stagnated around P4/P5/P6
- they were often losing championship to their own customers such as Red Bull (up until 2018) and McLaren (in 2020)
- 2022 ground effect rulebook was a clean design sheet for everyone - yet it clearly showed that some teams are just better than others, even in the cost cap world. This year Alpine (a works team) should’ve been in fight with RB and Ferrari, or at the very least with Merc. Yet they are stuck in a fight with Norris representing McLaren (a customer team!)
- since 2016 they scored a total of 4 podiums and 1 win (that win wasn’t really on merit, but a win nonetheless)
I think Ocon is another factor as nobody wants to be his teammate, especially when he is the teams lead driver.
Whats wrong with Esteban? Seems to be a nice guy. Mick is a good friend of him, so I guess he would want the seat🤔
Ocon seems like a decent lad. Explain to me why nobody would want to be his teammate?
@@Mystipaoniz Because he doesnt understand the concept of teamwork. hes too focused on fighting his own teammate rather than looking for whats beneficial for the team. Its crucial when youre in the midfield to work together yet hes focused on trying to crash out his own teammate. Tried putting alonso into a wall and holding him up on numerous occasions, clashed and crashed often with perez. Gasly has said that hes a massive snake and hates him and he wouldn't have a seat if Wolff wasn't his manager
Ocon is not a team player, worst teammate.
@@Mystipaoniz Perez and Alonso both had issues with Ocon as a teammate. Gasly is the man to go for however they won't do that because Ocon and Gasly don't like eachother. Riccardio is the only teammate that Ocon has gotten on with and that was because Riccardio was the clear team leader. You'll see more issues with Ocon and teammates in the future.
I just think if not only juniors but also Ricciardo and Alonso run away the problem goes further than just the junior program. I would not be surprised if Alpine was seen as nit appealing to most drivers and that they find it hard to sign someone genuinely good. If they desperately don’t want to sign a rookie for next year they may have to live with Goatifi, but I sort of hope for their sake that Schumacher will part ways with Haas and move to them
you think Latifi is the goat?
Ocon doesn't seem to have any problems in that team...so it seems that the answer to that mystery is quite simple: non-French drivers (though especially Anglophone drivers) don't want to stick around in a French team, when they get a chance to drive for an English-based team.
Sounds fairly obvious and logical.
@@martinusv7433 Why does this sound like the polite version of what Jeremy Clarkson might say?
@@Alex_49_YT Because he's also straight-talking, not beating around the bush, I guess 😁
@@martinusv7433 He is definitely straight talking, and by doing so he would never in any way insult France or any country because what he says about those beautiful places is very much true
It’s the Endstone team as a whole. Didn’t Schumacher and Alonso both leave that team right after winning two consecutive world titles?
Schumacher left because he wanted to make Ferrari champions again, Alonso left because he thought McLaren was a better team for the long-run, idk about team atmospheres and stuff tho
Jarno Trulli and Jacques Villeneuve, and then you have Jenson Button.
@@stepladder3257 Alain Prost also left for McLaren, and that definitely hinted something.
I think you were even too nice to them. The track record of how Alpine handles juniors is way more pathetic that what was mentioned in the video. If we look a bit further back, in 20 years of operating a junior team as Renault/Lotus/Alpine they promoted 2 drivers: Heikki Kovaleinen and Romain Grosjean. And both those drivers got DROPPED after only 1 season and had to go elsewhere.
And they had no shortage of talent either, other guys like Kubica, Maldonado (yes he's a meme but was still quick when he didn't decide to be crazy), Albon, Zhou and now Piastri were all in their academy at some point and all found F1 seats elsewhere
The way Alpine have tried to attack Piastri's character and reputation over the past month or so is reason enough to stay well away from their team. But I think they should keep the junior program, because at least Alpine drivers win races in F2 and F3!
What else would you expect after he had so blatantly stabbed them in the back? How about having a STRAIGHT TALK with the team instead of signing some secret deals with others in the shadows (while cynically smiling in your team's face)??
Sheesh...I don't really care about Alpine in specific (as a team), but I can't imagine the level of a spoiled brat it would require to produce such an arrogant post in social media that you WON'T be driving for the team that has spent YEARS on paying your bills and giving you training and then decided that you're worthy enough to get the seat in their F1 team... 🙄🙄
@@martinusv7433 Exactly, it's like dating the girl you know since childhood in the same neighborhood, families know each other, moving in together, propose, buy house, finally decide for wedding and the day before sending whatsapp message to all people invited saying "wedding's canceled lol, i have another fiancee"
relationships can end but how small a man can be to do that
Also Alpine looks like is a 2 team in F1 clowns strategy championship
That split moment when it seems like Alpine are wanting more trouble than it's worth..🤣🤣😂
This narrative surrounding Alpine is just wrong. All these drivers left for different and largely unrelated reasons. Ricciardo left cause he thought the grass was greener on the other side, there was no seat available for Zhou, Piastri left cause alpine couldn’t guarantee him a seat in a competitive car, and Alonso left cause they didn’t meet his contract demands. There’s no black cloud surrounding alpine and it’s a seat very much in demand based on the fact that there were 14 drivers who inquired about that seat when the vacancy became apparent.
I totally agree with that, I also don’t understand the logic around They shouldn’t have played games with Alonso + they should have given a seat to Piastri. Ocon having a contract, and Alpine not having a sister team there was only one seat available 🤔
I have faith that Alpine will do the right thing.
But only after all other options have been exhausted.
I'll say it here too. Alpine should have dumped Ocon and taken Alonso and Piastri as a duo change my mind. Alonso is performing soooo well right now and has the intention to stay for at least another two years (which Alpine knew of because they didn't want to give him a multi-year deal). Two years where Pisatri could have come into the sport and learn from one of the very best ever. Of course it would have been a risky move but also if it worked out a hiiiighly rewarding one. Piastri might just be along the greats of Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell in a few years time! He would have been prepared the best out of all of them except for maybe George who has Hamilton alongside him. Ocon is by no means a bad driver but since he is in Formula 1 he has not shown the ability to truly fight for a wdc if given the opportunity. He is a good midfield driver but can't compete with the likes of the new and old talents.
yeah. alonso and piastri would have been a blast for that team bro
Good report, I also wondered ... and indeed many people left (incl. Prost) which doesn't look good for Alpine either but says enough... I guess it will not be the end.
Facts: (none of them moved because their car is slow or they have negative vibes)
1. Daniel signed for Mclaren even before 1st race of 2020 because of Money and to have shortcut towards championship winning car.
2. Fernando signed for AM because of longevity of contract and even more money. Actually Alpine was his best chance to get couple of more podiums and a possible win, now that's gone.
3. Piastri's case is a whoopsie daisy for both Alpine and Piastri. Alpine were to sign Fernando so they told Oscar that and since Oscar didn't want to join Williams they nudged out and signed with Mclaren, now when Alonso moved then Alpine found out that Oscar already signed with Mclaren. While it's a shock to Alpine it's also 'oh-shit' moment for Oscar because when Alpine opportunity came to him he was already signed with Mclaren, so he has to ditch the very same team that gave him chance in Formulas.
and you didn't even mention they hired Marcin Budkowski from FIA and they fired him right after.
I think a part of it is that there’s nowhere to go… Alpine isn’t a top team yet so there’s no potential ti grow. I also have a feeling that Ocon is a small part of it too.
I forgot who said it but I remember listening to a podcast where a person who worked for the team said they aren’t interesting and investing to win. They are happy being where they are. If that’s the case I don’t blame drivers for avoiding them.
Alpine really only has one Team to give seats to drivers so they're always gonna be pretty constrained in how those seats get distributed. Redbull can offload juniors to Alpha Tauri, Ferrari can offload to Haas, Mercedes can offload to Williams to a certain extent, but Mclaren, Audi, Aston and importantly Alpine don't really have a junior team for extra seats. The teams that lack a partner team are always going to have issues with their junior drivers finding seats.
If Alpine had simply replaced Ocon with Piastri they'd have the perfect driver lineup, the two-time experienced world champion and the rising star.
Ocan has a contract, whether people like it or not
@@MrTux0 so did Daniel Ricciardo 😂😂😂
I cannot imagine telling Alain Prost that you don't need his advice anymore. Like talk about arrogant. Prost is one of the all time greatest drivers ever in F1 history. That man has value to contribute...
It depends on what Prost was doing for the team. If he was more a driver coach getting rid of him may have been a bad idea. If he was an executive though? It's not like Prost Grand Prix were worldbeaters.
@@BiggieTrismegistus Ok let me rephrase a little bit. If you have someone like Prost who is willing to help out your team, but you can't find a role for him where he is useful, it might reflect poorly on your managerial skills. Not being able to keep him happy is a different matter.
@@nomar5spaulding Gotcha. I agree that it seems like Prost would have _something_ positive to add.
@@BiggieTrismegistus I do understand it if Prost himself just found that he wasn't satisfied and decided to stop. That's a totally different situation, and often times it might be impossible for even a great organization to be able to help with that sort of thing. I can't stop thinking about Manny Ramirez. He was one of the best players in Major League Baseball in the 2000s and he was THE superstar of the Boston Red Sox. He was playing great. The team was doing well. They made deep playoff runs every year, won 2 World Series titles, snapped an 86 year long World Series drought after one of the greatest comebacks in sports history, and had one of the greatest baseball teams ever in 2007. The team loved him. The fans loved him. Boston loved him. He was playing great baseball. He also spent like 3 years asking to be traded, and going to greater and greater lengths to try and go to a different team until eventually the Red Sox willingly parted with one of the best players in the entire game.
Perfect assesment on the topic! 👌🏼
Having a longer break between races means more and more spicy takes on wtf1 videos in the meantime
It's kind of astonishing how blind Alpine have been to their own mistakes throughout this saga. Definitely a case of big egos in management ruining things for everyone else.
It’s definitely very obvious something is wrong with their management. Good on Oscar and Fernando for not being played around
Well I'm french and therefore support them ahah.
But I think it is quite a dark way of presenting things. Junior programs can only work for top 3 teams, or teams affiliated to them.
That's what they tried to do by securing a seat for Piastri at Williams, before everything went crazy...
As long as Alpine doesn't prove an ambition to be in the top3 on the long term, they are not appealing to most promising young drivers "Okay, Alpine, and then what ?"
And then, the other problem is Ocon. Not the driver himself, but the idea of giving a 1000 year contract to a decent midrange driver, that will lock this seat forever.
Regarding Prost, its a matter of opinion. I personnaly don't like him, and think he was the one frustrated by not having "all the light". He was only here for politics and didn't do an amazing job either.
De Vries is excellent, but has a Ocon-like profile, and is already 27.
They might end up with Gasly. I love him but I'm not that excited by the duo we get from that. Let's wait and see.
(Aston Martin will end up with the same problem if they don't get rid of Stroll one of these days AND don't perform as they say they will)
Alonso-Piastri for the 2023 line-up was the real deal. But someone at Alpine decided was a good idea giving Ocon the long term contract that Alonso wanted. With one seat blocked, they decided to promise the same seat to 2 drivers that do not like to be played with and lost them both.
Renaut/Alpine is a factory team with no client/sister teams using their power units. If they close their academy it could be another step in a downward spiral. The other teams will work to get their client teams into the 4th, 5th and 6th slots, Renault will find it harder to compete.
I remember Andretti announcing they would use a Renault PU in their F1 car. In my opinion this expansion would have been good for Renault and for F1.
Meantime, Redbull has announced a NO GO with Porsche power units.
Right now it is looking like F1 is deliberately a tight little club - Mercedes, Ferrari and a trendy soft drinks manufacturer.
trendy soft drinks manufacturer LOL
To me the problem is that Alpine see themselves as a front of the grid team, whilst the world sees them as an upper midtable at best.
They don't want to risk their 'top tier' placement with a rookie, and as they have no junior team in F1 there is nowhere to put a rookie to try them out first.
I know Mercedes officially don't have a junior team either but having customer teams helps to place their junior drivers, see George's time at Williams.
The best thing Alpine could do is somehow get another team using their engines. The only realistic target would be Williams, but they seem very happy with Brixworth's finest powering them.
As I mentioned in another comment, when Michael Andretti was talking about an F1 team he said they'd use Renault engines. Perhaps his plan to become a Haas-style junior team to Alpine. Either way I think you're right about them needing to find another current F1 team to work with. I doubt it will happen prior to the new engine regs though and who knows if Alpine will make it that long.
Over a number of years I had the opportunity to purchase and run a number of French produced commercial devices. Overall they were very well made and produced excellent results. Dealing with their representatives, from sales, support, to engineering on the other hand was a nightmare. It got so bad, we eventually replaced then sold the equipment at a significant loss.
I'm not saying all, but the three companies I dealt with were not pleasant, especially if you weren't French, didn't speak French, or worse, you spoke French-Canadian.
I'm thinking something similar might be happening with Renault.
The French-Canadian slander is too real.
Alpine as Renault also lost Sainz to McLaren in 2019.
Combined with Ricciardo and Piastri, McLaren must love taking their drivers.
Great point!!
The fact that they STILL don't want to take responsibility and accountability for fumbling Piastri shows they're just going down hill in terms of management
Seems like they're running according to Big Sociopathic Company rules instead of functional raceteam rules.
"As long as you never admit you're wrong you're never wrong."
French Management… see how they did at Danone
They were already pretty much at the bottom of the hill.
I wouldn't be surprised if Alpine as a team would be sold to another manufacturer in the years to come.
Need to bring Renault back, Alpine have tarnished their name already
Renault have owned that team since the mid 90s and have still held this team through much worse then this. Renault would re brand it to another brand in the renault group like nissan before they sell it on
@@oj_lewis0996
Renault has actually been a sporadic owner of this team. They purchased the existing Benetton team in 2002 and ran the team until the fallout from the deliberate Piquet crash at Singapore in 2008 became too much to handle. They sold majority interest in the team after the 2009 season, then sold the remaining stake to Lotus Cars after 2010. They called the team Renault in 2011, then ran as Lotus from 2012-2015. Renault picked up ownership again for 2016 and has run the team since.
@@jimiverson3085 i was trying to say that they have had their foot in the door at that team for a while now so it has help them a lot
That could present an interesting dilemma. Renault has been able to stay in the game of F1 engine manufacturing due to this team. But another manufacturer would probably want their name on engines, and might not be interested in the current facility. Now, if Renault is done with F1 completely, that could be their escape hatch. But if they want to keep a hand in, that could be an issue.
I read a news article saying there are a few key personnel leaving Alpine not just Alonso and Piastri because of the way the team is being run by Rossi
You should read the Renault story with Magnussen when he jumped ship to Haas. I think it were also mentioned in his book or at least danish media covered it wall to wall some years back and the french management and board have just been extremely toxic to both engineers and drivers from the sounds of it.
Good video! 👍
I mean nando and Oscar are both pretty obvious. Nando wanted guaranteed money for several seasons and Oscar wanted a faster clearer path to a seat. Alpine appeared wanting to have nando for one more year and then hand over to Oscar which cost them both. Oscar found himself a seat for next year elsewhere as he was expecting nando to still be in his way, nando got his multi year deal that alpine weren’t wanting to give him. Incredibly straight forward.
Parting ways from Prost was a good move though.. None of his teams since he retired have been front runners
I think Ricciardo is happy to come
Back now 😢
Wonder how long Gassly will stick around if Alpha Tauri gets Nyck de Vries so he can move on. He and Ocon had been rivals since early carting days and families arent getting along. SO yeah Ocon could be a problem for Alpine.
If nobody wants to drive for them, I totally do! I'm open to any proposal from them!
This is definitely a question one would have thought the media would have had an inside source reveal by now🤔
Legend has it that the leadership spirit of Falvio Briatore still lingers within the teams headquarters to this day……despite him still being alive and all.
I will take the seat if no one else will 😂
Also weird that Jack Doohan was a Red Bull junior before last year and chose to go to Alpine/Renault who have never promoted a junior driver.
Never promoted? I guess Robert Kubica, Heikki Kovalainen, Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean don't exist apparently
@@metro3313 Change that to 'not promoted in recent years'. Alpine are about as organised as a box of frogs right now. Doohan is doing well in F2 - they could promote him.
@@paulbarnett227 He is far to young, needs at least one more year in F2
The best way to get their own back at McLaren and Oscar is this. Sign Jack Doohan to the full time seat and watch him beat Oscar and the McLaren team fair and square. Or, steal one of McLaren junior drivers (which at the moment there are none), sign them to the team and watch them beat McLaren. Doohan could be the subject of a perfect revenge story.
Could you do a video on the driver academies and how they work?! I’m new to F1 and can’t find much on it at all. Watching F2 or F3 I see drivers that are on the same team sometimes driving a Red Bull car, but I don’t see other academies doing cars in their colors. Explain the whole thing, please.
"I'll give you $500 million dollars if you let my son drive."
"Okay."
There ya go.
@@davem8836 Years ago I kept up with F1, I thought that the FIA had done away with that or tried to do so.
The bigger teams pay the f2 teams to keep a seat
2024 is going to hit hard Alpine
because the team is being run by a pinhead in Laurent Rossi
Honestly this channel is turning more and more into f1 fanboy rants rather than giving any sort of factual well researched information
Alpine cannot give a seat to juniors because they simply don't have enough seats in F1. Other factory teams have junior (or partner) teams, that also helps with their engine development beside giving a shot to their young talents in F1.
I didn't know Alpine had a Driver Academy before the whole Piastri ordeal. But if they never promoted one of those drivers to a race seat then I can understand Piastri's decision even better. There is no point staying when all that team history proved was that drivers had to go look elsewhere to get a drive. Would still be a shame if an academy program gets cancelled because of this but then... it might prevent some further drama and/or crushed hopes for the next Alpine driver academy talent.
I feel for now, Mick to Alpine works best for everyone. Alpine for me is the only team that is not as bad as Haas (in terms of how they treating Mick)
The seem keen on getting Gasly but yes, if would try to get Mick if that option failed.
@@soundscape26 but I don't think Gasly want to go to Alpine...he just said he want to try new team...but it will not be Alpine. He also never make any statement about alpine.
Gasly to Alpine makes no sense at all. Not that there are no talks/rumours, it just doesn’t make sense. For Gasly: Alpine is run really badly, they are a mess at the moment. With AT, he still has some of the brains trust at RB to help the team. He is a clear number 1 to Tsunoda. So he has that going for him. Might not be the same if he moves. For Alpine: if the rumours are true (I don’t know), Gasly and Ocon don’t like each other. Why would you want a team when the two drivers don’t like each other? It’s going to go bad
@@blizzard6741 Do you even understand F1??
Gasly his carreer is at a stand still.
Because he is stuck in that AT seat.
His best option is to move to any other team to prove he can also drive that car,
In the hopes that he will one day get a call for a Mercedes / Ferrari seat. ( Like sainz ).
And Mick is not being mistreated.
A F1 team is a business, and since Ferrari dropped him from Junior driver academy,
They will stop paying for him to drive in that Haas seat.
Why should Haas stick with Mick,, They can just take another Junior driver from Ferrari / Mercedes.
Or sign someone that they want in that seat themself, and is not placed in it like Mick was.
Whatever is going on it seems to be deeper than the junior academy, I guess hiring & firing managers, consultants etc is taking its toll on the team. Worth noting that they need someone like Riccardo, he's free, he's had success for them, but apparently would prefer to take a holiday rather than go back.
To me it feels like Renault/Alpine has embedded itself too solidly into the midfield and isn't taken seriously enough as a team and constructor -- sometimes seemingly even by themselves. They're an engine manufacturer works team, but don't seem to have the ambition of one -- Ferrari, even when they were lagging behind felt like trying to strike forward. Alpine is competitive, but not with Mercedes or Red Bull, but with McLaren and Racing Point. But on the other hand they still act like a top team when it comes to hiring talent, not wanting to sign rookies -- even though they're not really a top team and more importantly, they don't have a lower ranked "support team" to have that funnel. And they're also not taken seriously as an engine manufacturer, having no other teams with their engines.
If YOU were a candidate for Alpine, would YOU take the seat? Or hold out or sit out a year for any other team
I'd take the seat and show my speed ( If I had it) . I'd just get a good lawyer and make sure I can get out of there without any big consequences if the top 3 call me
Why would I turn down to drive for a midfield team?
@@metro3313 because ocon would try to kill you to stay ahead of you
They want to drive for Alpine. Real question is " Why does nobody want to be Ocon's teammate!?" :)
Because he's so good it will make them look bad? 😒
Not to mention in a recent interview Rossi said that the driver doesn’t matter, it’s all about the car.
He is suggesting that if you put Verstappen in a Williams he’d struggle to get points, put Latifi in the Red Bull and he will consistently get the win.
It’s a very two-dimensional way of looking at Formula 1, just look what Schumacher was doing for Ferrari in the early 00’s. Maybe an extreme example but shows what a good driver can add in creating a strong team.
On the flip side, Gasly and Albon have proved that being given the machinery alone isn’t enough to perform.
He is super arrogant, and until him and Ocon are gone nothing will change.
Coming from an Alpine fan.
I think Alpine should’ve given Fernando what he wanted and signed Oscar, then Ocon probably goes to Williams thanks to his Mercedes ties
After watching this video, the problem clearly is Laurent
I'd drive for alpine if nobody wants 👉👈
DR3 left Alpine before his first season was up. The announcement of his move to McLaren came before his second season with Renault began. Not sure what McLaren promised, but it's obvious he didn't slack off during his second season with Renault, and may have been better off staying there longer. However, we on the outside have no real insight as to what is really happening.
And he should actually now be in the list of the drivers who now WANT to drive for Alpine
They promised an English-based environment and ownership, with roughly the same level of performance.
Like, what else is there? Just a matter of convenience.
I was hoping for some more insights on the snr management of Alpine. Eg Alonso told everyone he was leaving, EXCEPT Otmar. Hmm. Why? He (Otmar) was also key to the other cockups re Piastri. Then there’s Rossi. What else do we know about him?
Not to mention that fact that Oscar LITERALLY DIDN'T HAVE A CONTRACT WITH THE TEAM!
"However, after just two years, Ricciardo also decided enough was enough despite finishing 5th in the World Drivers Championship in 2020 and securing two podiums with the team."
Ricciardo decided enough was enough after just one year. If you'll remember, he was already in his lame duck period at Renault by the time the 2020 season got going in July.
I'd forgotten about that. Thanks for the reminder. Looking back on it, that decision hasn't really worked out well for driver or team.
Because alpine is in a crossroad between entry level team (like williams, alphatauri, haas) and top team like red bull, ferrari, and mercedes
I think Sauber might see themselves in a similar position in the near future with Theo porcheir. He's an insane talent for his age. But Sauber has very good drivers with Zhou and bottas. Thankfully Theo is still very young so unless someone comes and poaches him next year. They should be fine for a few more years
Pourchaire needs to win f2 to get his seat. That is why Zhou got another year. If he cannot beat Drugovich who doesn’t have a seat, why would he deserve one? Your name and hype only carry you so far - win the f2 championship and then you have a shot at the seat.
@@nickfury8973 Theo is 19 and started f2 at 18 and Felipe is 22. Felipe has also been in f2 for 2 years while this was Theo's first year. Theo is finishing in 2nd in his first year while Zhou took 3 years to finish in 3rd. You're saying Theo has to prove himself with a 1st place finish but Zhou didn't? Great consistency there mate. Theo will most likely get 1st next year since he's used to the car now. Then either he'll come into F1 as a reserve for Sauber (whatever the name will be after Alfa romeo leaves) or replace Zhou if he doesn't do too well. I think it's in Saubers best interest to get Theo into the sport asap so he can be experienced enough for the 2026 Audi swap. That way they can have a good youngster alongside a good experienced driver with bottas.
If you ever feel useless just remember Alpine has a junior academy…
I think Alonso is easily capable of doing another 5 seasons
Let's be real Verstappen will be heading in to his 20th odd season and alonso will be sitting there I'm his 60s still racing
To be fair to Alpine they have lacked a dedicated second team to send drivers to. RB obviously has Alphatauri, but Mercedes and Ferrari have customer teams that they can send talent to. Alpine has no team like that and so they have no F1 team to send their drivers.
To me, one of the reasons why the alpine academy is failing is the fact that curently, there is only alpine on the f1 grid, where as Mercedes, red Bull, and Ferrari have junior teams or just teams that are in contract with them in which they can put their junior drivers in whithout too much risks.