Tag: alpine

F1 technical updates: 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Alpine has brought a number of development pieces to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, though it’s unclear how many of the new parts may have been damaged in Pierre Gasly’s fiery stoppage during practice. The Alpine A523 is sporting an upgrade package …

Alpine has brought a number of development pieces to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, though it’s unclear how many of the new parts may have been damaged in Pierre Gasly’s fiery stoppage during practice.

The Alpine A523 is sporting an upgrade package comprising a new floor as well as new front and rear suspension that the team hopes will haul it closer to Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin. It’s also equipped with circuit-specific low-drag front and rear wings designed to tackle the high-speed Baku straights.

Speaking before the practice hour, Alpine technical director Matt Harman said the floor represented a significant step forward in the team’s thinking about its aerodynamic concept.

“It’s a little bit of a departure in some areas,” he said. “It’s pretty much across the whole floor, really. There’s some redistribution of geometry you won’t be able to see — unless the car’s upside down — which is quite important also.

“It’s quite a different pressure distribution for the floor. It’s pretty extensive. It’s not a single part in a modular floor, it’s the whole floor.

“It’s just pure performance. It’s just total load we’re putting on the car.”

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The team was ambitious to bring a significant update given the single hour available for practice, and its worst fears must have been realized when Gasly’s car caught fire and stopped after only seven laps. Teammate Esteban Ocon was held in his garage after eight laps as a precaution while the team identified the cause of the issue, which early indications suggested was a hydraulic leak.

Oscar Piastri’s revised McLaren MCL60. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Much focus is also on McLaren’s upgrade this weekend, with the team saying the car presented in Baku is the one it had hoped to start the season with.

It’s listed only new floor geometry that “significantly alters local suction distribution” as a performance update, although changes to the rear wing and beam wing have also been made specifically for Azerbaijan’s low-downforce demands.

McLaren principal Andrea Stella has said a B-spec upgrade is due before the August break and another significant round of upgrades is scheduled for the autumn.

Subtle changes for Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes F1 W14. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Among the front-runners, Mercedes has been the most active in updating its car, bringing a “subtle” new rear wing endplate, lower deflector behind the rear axle and front suspension as well a circuit-specific change to the front brake ducts to help with cooling.

Watch: Deer survives cougar attack thanks to curious motorist

A San Diego County motorist unintentionally spoiled a mountain lion’s attempt to take down a deer this week by pulling up to capture the scene on video.

A San Diego County motorist unintentionally spoiled a mountain lion’s attempt to kill a deer this week when he stopped to capture the scene on video.

Buddy Wilkerson of Alpine told NBC that he first saw just the deer on the side of Japatul Road, then realized he had stumbled upon a mountain lion predation attempt.

“All I saw was the deer. It was a big deer,” Wilkerson says in the footage. “And as I got closer, I saw the mountain lion.”

ALSO: Fishing boat speeds over sea lions in ‘terrible’ scene caught on video

Wilkerson estimated the mountain lion’s weight at 100-plus pounds. In California, mule deer are typical prey for adult mountain lions, or cougars.

Wilkerson said he did not intend to frighten the mountain lion, which is seen releasing its grip on the deer’s throat and sprinting into the wilderness, allowing the deer to escape.

“He was just trying to eat,” Wilkerson acknowledges in the video. “I wasn’t trying to, you know, interrupt or anything. I just wanted to see him and as I got a little bit closer, I guess it spooked him.”

–Generic mountain lion image courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Gasly escapes race ban while Ocon slams “suicidal” drivers on restart

Pierre Gasly escaped a race ban after the stewards did not penalize him for his collision with Esteban Ocon in the Australian Grand Prix, while his teammate called multiple drivers “suicidal” in their approach to restarts. A strong race from Gasly …

Pierre Gasly escaped a race ban after the stewards did not penalize him for his collision with Esteban Ocon in the Australian Grand Prix, while his teammate called multiple drivers “suicidal” in their approach to restarts.

A strong race from Gasly had him fighting for the podium but he ran wide at Turn 1 on the final restart when side-by-side with Carlos Sainz, who in turn tagged Fernando Alonso into a spin. When Gasly rejoined he drifted across the track into Ocon and both drivers were taken out of the race, prompting an investigation by the stewards.

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Gasly is just two penalty points away from the 12 required to trigger a race ban but no further action was taken after the stewards deemed it a first lap racing incident following discussions with both drivers.

Ocon himself was frustrated to be caught up in the incident but said he doesn’t hold blame against Gasly as he believes many drivers approached the restart with two laps remaining too aggressively.

“Before starting about the last lap crash, just thinking about the positives and just reflecting on everything that didn’t go our way,” Ocon said. “But that was out of our control, really. We had a mega start (initially), I gained three places. We decided to box on purpose to put the hard tire very early on. And obviously if there was no red flag just after that, we would have been like fourth or fifth. It would have been a very good first stint. So, that didn’t go our way.

“We lost everything that that we took from the red flag, then it was a very lonely race. I overtook the cars that had DRS so they were not without defense, it was very hard to to pass them and we did so. Then the pace was similar to the Ferraris and the Astons in front. So that was very promising.

“Obviously a very chaotic restart then honestly, it could have been any cars that I collided with. There was cars coming back on the track, obviously Pierre was one of them. But no hard feelings. He came and apologized and as I said, it could have been anyone.

“My tires were hot. I didn’t feel like it was very slippery. But what was tricky was the light being a little bit lower, we couldn’t really see so well. But some drivers were just suicidal a bit in Turn 1, like Nyck (de Vries) on the side. It was very close and obviously there’s a lot to gain at the time, but a little bit too much for some drivers.”