Latest news with #A525
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Pierre Gasly: Alpine in 'much better place' at Imola GP despite crash with rabbit
Alpine Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly heralded 2025 Imola Grand Prix practice as 'the best Friday so far this year', despite admitting a crash with a rabbit hampered his running. After a turbulent few weeks for the French side, which has featured the resignation of team boss Oliver Oakes and the announcement a mid-season driver swap, Gasly was on fine form in the first day of practice at the Imola GP. Advertisement The French driver's time of 1m15.569s was the third quickest lap of the second session, and put him a little under three tenths off the pace of the leading McLaren pair. 'It's been a very, very good Friday,' Gasly told Sky TV after the second practice session in Italy. 'From the first lap, I could tell the car was in a much better place than in Miami. I'm glad we managed to answer some of the question marks we had after the last race. 'Obviously, we know from Friday to Saturday, others usually keep a bit more in their pocket, but I think it's quite fair to say it's probably been the best Friday so far this year.' Pierre Gasly, Alpine Pierre Gasly, Alpine Peter Fox / Getty Images Peter Fox / Getty Images Advertisement Gasly added that he now felt more comfortable finding the limit of his A525, and said he felt he could 'push it to the maximum' despite the narrow, unforgiving nature of the Italian circuit. However, it wasn't all plane sailing for the French racer on the first day of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. In the day's earlier session, Gasly was caught out by an animal on track. Gasly said he 'very sadly' collided with a rabbit that ran out onto the track during FP1, a clash that reportedly damaged his A525 and impacted his running for the session. 'I couldn't tell if it was a small cat or a big rabbit,' the Frenchman added. Advertisement 'It turned out that it was a big rabbit just jumping across the track. I could not avoid it, so I had quite a big impact on the front wing. 'Unfortunately, that was it for the rabbit and [it] also broke the front wing. It was not ideal, but not the end of the session we wanted.' Read Also: Flavio Briatore denies Alpine's five-race F1 plan for Franco Colapinto 'Turbulent' Alpine drive will make Franco Colapinto stronger - Williams The collision reportedly caused 'quite a bit of damage' to the floor and front wing of Gasly's car. Despite his crash with the wildlife, Gasly still managed to log 21 laps over the course of first practice and recorded a best time of 1m16.696s – good enough for sixth place. Head here to stay up to speed with the latest F1 Imola Grand Prix news, expert analysis, photos and videos. To read more articles visit our website.
The Star
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Star
Crash course
IT is inevitable in Formula One, where drivers compete at over 320kph, that sometimes they are going to crash into the barriers. What is impressive is how fast a wreckage is repaired. 'It tends to always be controlled carnage, depending on how big the accident is,' Ollie Middleton, the No. 1 mechanic for Carlos Sainz of Williams, said in an interview. Crashes during a race can end in a failure to finish, but if they happen during practice or qualifying, teams must undertake a repair job. Mechanics have to repair a damaged car inside the team's pit garage, but the actual job begins almost as soon as the car hits the barriers. Alpine sprang into action at last month's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, when driver Jack Doohan crashed just minutes into the second practice session. Red Bull crew changing the front wing during the Grand Prix of Miami on May 1. — AFP 'We've got the TV feed, it was very clear at Suzuka, it was a mess,' Rob Cherry, the Alpine race team manager, said in an interview. 'From watching a replay it was quite obvious what we'd need to do. We also have a lot of sensors on the car that show the loads, on the suspension, the G-force the chassis has seen, that's the data-driven side, so we begin making assessments based on that.' Mechanics will prepare the required spare parts – teams bring backup parts to Grands Prix – and a visual inspection once the car is back in the garage will provide more detail. 'We can see on the data if something has gone over its strain limit,' Middleton said. 'It's a different story when the car comes back and you physically see the damage, if you see the radiators are crushed. Then it's a 15-minute detailed plan, you pick your decision and go for it.' For Doohan's accident, Alpine brought a spare chassis from their storage in a freight container to the pit garage, and the mechanics got to work, the team having received the required approval from the sport's governing body, the FIA, to make the chassis swap. Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the pit lane after he collided with Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Miami on May 3. — AFP Doohan's car, the A525, was equipped with a new front wing, new rear wing, floor, bodywork, gearbox, suspension components and exhausts, though the power unit was intact and fit for continued use. The repair was completed in around eight hours, and the car was ready for the final practice the next day. 'People just jump in, it's not headless chickens running around doing anything, people know their limits, but they can offer a hand,' Cherry said. 'Maybe it's sweeping the broken carbon and gravel off the floor; it all helps. And no one has to ask, it's very smooth and flowing.' The team can then gradually attach the new components. When a car sustains structural damage, 'It is a whole new ballgame,' Middleton said. 'The best way to describe it is you're working between people's legs, you might be bolting on a lower wishbone while someone's repairing a fairing, it can be pretty intense. We take a step back, none of us are talking, we know exactly what's going on at each time.' It will be clear to mechanics that some components are beyond repair, but other less-damaged parts could still, in theory, return to use. 'We put scrap in one box, then there's another box where things are visually OK, but had an overload or needed further checks,' Cherry said. 'It goes to the factory, there's various sign-off processes, then signed out of quarantine by an engineering lead in the factory to say they're happy and it can return to track for use. In days gone by, parts would have been written off, but in a cost-cap era it's different, and the value of the material is higher, you can't just get rid of it.' Location and timing also influence the task for mechanics. Crash damage is usually higher at a street track, where logistically getting a damaged car back swiftly can be tougher because of fewer access roads. A driver crashing when there is a short turnaround time between sessions also heightens the stress. 'The highest pressure is between third practice and qualifying as it's a short window, and if you don't qualify you're at the back,' Cherry said. 'We did have a driver, a long time ago, Vitaly Petrov, who had a habit of coming unstuck and had a real talent of doing it in third practice, where there are only two hours to prepare the car before qualifying. He'd go out, the car would be destroyed. I think he took three corners off the car in China: the floor's damaged, the bodywork, the wings, we'd had an air-box fire in the engine, it was a mess.' The team, though, fixed the car in time for qualifying, and it is those situations where the camaraderie comes through. — NYT
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
How an Formula 1 Racecar Returns to Action So Quickly
It is inevitable in Formula 1, where drivers compete at over 200 m.p.h., that sometimes they are going to crash into the barriers. What is impressive is how fast a wreckage is repaired. 'It tends to always be controlled carnage, depending on how big the accident is,' Ollie Middleton, the No. 1 mechanic for Carlos Sainz of Williams, said in an interview. Crashes during a race can end in a failure to finish, but if they happen during practice or qualifying, teams must undertake a repair job. Mechanics have to repair a damaged car inside the team's pit garage, but the actual job begins almost as soon as the car hits the barriers. Alpine sprang into action at last month's Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, when the driver Jack Doohan crashed just minutes into the second practice session. 'We've got the TV feed, it was very clear at Suzuka, it was a mess,' Rob Cherry, the Alpine race team manager, said in an interview. 'From watching a replay it was quite obvious what we'd need to do. We also have a lot of sensors on the car that show the loads, on the suspension, the G-force the chassis has seen, that's the data-driven side, so we begin making assessments based on that.' Mechanics will prepare the required spare parts — teams bring backup parts to Grands Prix — and a visual inspection once the car is back in the garage will provide more detail. 'We can see on the data if something has gone over its strain limit,' Middleton said. 'It's a different story when the car comes back and you physically see the damage, if you see the radiators are crushed. Then it's a 15-minute detailed plan, you pick your decision and go for it.' For Doohan's accident, Alpine brought a spare chassis from its storage in a freight container to the pit garage, and the mechanics got to work, the team having received the required approval from the sport's governing body, the F.I.A., to make the chassis swap. Doohan's car, the A525, was equipped with a new front wing, new rear wing, floor, bodywork, gearbox, suspension components and exhausts, though the power unit was intact and fit for continued use. The repair was completed in around eight hours, and the car was ready for the final practice the next day. 'People just jump in, it's not headless chickens running around doing anything, people know their limits, but they can offer a hand,' Cherry said. 'Maybe it's sweeping the broken carbon and gravel off the floor; it all helps. And no one has to ask, it's very smooth and flowing.' The team can then gradually attach the new components. When a car sustains structural damage, 'It is a whole new ballgame,' Middleton said. 'The best way to describe it is you're working between people's legs, you might be bolting on a lower wishbone while someone's repairing a fairing, it can be pretty intense. We take a step back, none of us are talking, we know exactly what's going on at each time.' It will be clear to mechanics that some components are beyond repair, but other less-damaged parts could still, in theory, return to use. 'We put scrap in one box, then there's another box where things are visually OK, but had an overload or needed further checks,' Cherry said. 'It goes to the factory, there's various sign-off processes, then signed out of quarantine by an engineering lead in the factory to say they're happy and it can return to track for use. In days gone by, parts would have been written off, but in a cost-cap era it's different, and the value of the material is higher, you can't just get rid of it.' Location and timing also influence the task for mechanics. Crash damage is usually higher at a street track, where logistically getting a damaged car back swiftly can be tougher because of fewer access roads. 'Jeddah is a track where I can't watch a qualifying lap on the screen, where you're so close to a wall, the tiniest nick can cause the biggest damage,' Middleton said of the race in Saudi Arabia. 'Towards the end of the season it can be tiring, towards the end of a tripleheader, you're repairing in the field, so if you've had a few bumps or wear and tear you're losing spares, regardless of a crash, so by the end of that you're up against it.' A driver crashing when there is a short turnaround time between sessions also heightens the stress. 'The highest pressure is between third practice and qualifying as it's a short window, and if you don't qualify you're at the back,' Cherry said. 'We did have a driver, a long time ago, Vitaly Petrov, who had a habit of coming unstuck and had a real talent of doing it in third practice, where there are only two hours to prepare the car before qualifying. He'd go out, the car would be destroyed. I think he took three corners off the car in China: the floor's damaged, the bodywork, the wings, we'd had an air-box fire in the engine, it was a mess.' The team, though, fixed the car in time for qualifying, and it is those situations where the camaraderie comes through. 'No one wants an accident, but if there's any fuss, people secretly enjoy it,' Cherry said. 'Given enough time and information, most people can do anything, including building an F1 car: If you've got the manual and the documentation you'd get there, it's just how long it'd take to get there. That's where people earn their money: It's doing it in a high-pressure situation, working fast and pushing to make a deadline, but it still needs to be right.' Williams suffered two large accidents in last year's São Paulo Grand Prix qualifying session, which had been delayed from Saturday to Sunday morning, just hours before the Grand Prix. 'It's everyone's worst nightmare, the inkling that if it goes wrong it'll be a tough ask,' Middleton said. 'And we only got one car out, but given how low our spares were we were happy to get one car out to a good state on the grid. The emotions are mad through the day, you go from down in the dumps — the cameras love to show people with their heads in their hands — but the buzz you get from the car going out and running reliably in a race is immense.'
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Pierre Gasly predicts 'difficult' Saudi Arabian GP for Alpine
Motorsport photo Such are the political sensitivities embedded in the Alpine team's Anglo-French make-up that the shortcomings in the engine bay represent a weakness that dare not speak its name. 'You know I can't answer that question' was Pierre Gasly's polite but firm reply in Jeddah when asked to account for how much of the difference in Alpine's performance in Japan (where Gasly finished 13th) and Bahrain (where he was seventh) was down to car balance, and how much to power unit performance. Advertisement 'The reality is this is the package we have and this package allowed us to fight for a good position in Bahrain. And I think this is what we need to build on. 'There are still areas where we can do better. There are things we can change, there are other things we can't change.' Gasly did concede that the Saudi Arabian street circuit is one on which Alpine might face a struggle. A picture is emerging from the races so far of the A525 is a relatively benign and well-balanced car, which thrives in flowing medium-speed areas but is held back by the power unit's hybrid system running out of electrical charge on the straights. At Suzuka, this manifested itself by Gasly being as quick as the frontrunners through the flowing 'S' curves at the beginning of the lap, then losing ground between the hairpin and 'Spoon' corner, then again on the run to 130R. By the same token, the long straights of the Shanghai circuit – where neither Alpine driver troubled the top 10 – brutally punished the car. Advertisement The Jeddah track has relatively few sections that are perfectly straight, but has a profusion of high-speed corners taken flat, or nearly flat. It also has relatively few hard stops, which has implications for the amount of electrical energy that can be harvested under braking – even more critical for Alpine given the Renault PU is known to be less efficient in this area than rivals. Pierre Gasly, Alpine, Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team Pierre Gasly, Alpine, Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team Clive Mason - Getty Images Clive Mason - Getty Images 'We know there are tracks where potentially things could be a bit more tricky and a bit more difficult for us,' said Gasly. 'But then at the same time, we know what we fight with and this is what we've got. Advertisement 'And we've got to go to fight with what we have. So yeah, I think on paper we know this track is quite sensitive to it [the limitation on electrical deployment]. 'But now it's up to us to try to be as competitive as we can and, hopefully, we can still make something out of this weekend.' The team is still digesting the lessons from a Bahrain weekend where the A525 was fast enough to qualify in the top 10 on a circuit where the abrasive track surface exerts a toll on the tyres and the efficiency of the underbody aerodynamics. Alpine had shown well at the pre-season test there – but other teams that had come away from the test in a positive frame of mind underperformed relative to their expectations last weekend, potentially as a result of the hotter ambient temperatures. 'In the winter test I think we saw the car was working well in Bahrain,' said Gasly. Advertisement 'Obviously that was the only sample we had at the time so we thought we would be able to reproduce that sort of performance in the first few weekends, which wasn't quite the same. It's not like we were miles off – like in Australia we still managed to get to Q3, came short of it in Suzuka, but generally it didn't feel quite as good. Read Also: Alpine's 12-month F1 turnaround: P20 to P4 on Bahrain GP grid Pierre Gasly eyes 2026 F1 championship: "I could be world champion" Five things to watch out for at the Saudi Arabian GP 'And then going back to Bahrain sort of put the car back to what I felt there. So, it's more in terms of analysis, which obviously in a few days is quite difficult to get all these answers. Advertisement 'But I think over the next few weeks before Miami, hopefully we can get a better understanding on why the car in these conditions worked the way it did and what somehow didn't really favour us in the first few races.' To read more articles visit our website.
