The nightmarish weekend continues for the Alpine team.
Frenchman Esteban Ocon, who was to start 13th in the sprint race on Saturday and 12th in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Formula 1 on Sunday, will finally start from the pit lane, his Alpine team announced on Saturday.
To discover
Formula 1: the calendar of the season
Formula 1: manufacturers' classification
Formula 1: drivers classification
“
The team has taken the N.31 car out of the closed park regime, which means that Esteban will start today's sprint race (Saturday, editor's note) from the pit lane,” explained Alpine
. .
And specifies: "
Esteban will also start tomorrow's race from the pit lane
".
Unless authorised, under the “
parc fermé
” regime, the teams are not allowed to touch the F1 cars.
However, according to an official document consulted by AFP, the team “
made changes to the configuration of the suspension (by informing the technical delegate of the FIA in writing)
”.
Earlier in the day, the Norman had taken the 13th time in qualifying for the sprint, a format inaugurated in 2021 and competed in six GPs this season.
But contrary to what was done until then, the sprint now has its own qualifying session.
In order to determine the starting grid for the GP on Sunday, the drivers had already played a first qualifying session on Friday at the end of which Ocon had qualified 12th.
This announcement is yet another blow for the tricolor team, which lives in Azerbaijan, the scene of the 4th round of the season, a very complicated weekend.
Read alsoFormula 1: "It's not our weekend for the moment", laments Gasly in Azerbaijan
On Friday, its drivers only rode a little during the only free practice session of the weekend.
Pierre Gasly notably saw his engine go up in smoke just a quarter of an hour after the start of practice, while Ocon immediately returned to the garage to check for a potential problem in the back of his single-seater.
At Williams, Logan Sargeant, qualified 15th for the sprint, will not start the race at 3:30 p.m.
During the first part of qualifying, the American hit a wall, heavily damaging the right back of his Williams.
With Ocon's penalty and the absence of Sargeant on Saturday, Gasly therefore rises to a modest 17th place on the sprint grid and 18th position on the GP grid - while the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) will start on pole in both races after excellent qualifying.
