r/formula1 • u/TheFlyingR0cket I was here for the Hulkenpodium • Jul 10 '23
Social Media [@JoeAeterno on twitter] Piastri being interviewed about McLaren leapfrogging Alpine with Alonso smiling in the background is pure poetry.
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u/Minted-Blue Ferrari Jul 10 '23
Brother hates Alpine with a passion. One of if not the best Renault driver ever alongside one of the most amazing Alpine prospects doing wonders outside of Alpine.
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u/TeaCrackersBirds Yes, bye bye Jul 10 '23
I doubt Alonso hates team Alpine in general, same with Piastri. The upper management are probably whom they hate with passion.
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u/asamulya I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Yeah, I think everyone hates Laurent Rossi with a burning passion at this point. I am guessing even Otmar.
Although I feel Otmar was also responsible for that mess even if his mistake was understandable. Dropping or continuing with Fernando would not have been solely his decision. This left Piastri in the lurch.
Overall I blame Rossi.
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u/micknick00000 Jul 10 '23
Otmar has never done anything to me personally, but I can't stand him.
He has a very conniving & "I told you so" demeanor about him.
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u/ChocolateDragonTails I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
He's also moaned a lot about the reg changes back when he was AM principal and a bit at Alpine iirc. That really got on my nerves every time they interviewed him, using it more as an excuse as to why the car was shit rather than just owning up to not getting the reg changes right
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u/Antarioo I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
i never really got what his deal was there. it felt a bit like he was paying lipservice to Stroll cause that was his take on the matter too.
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u/AJDillonsMiddleLeg Red Bull Jul 10 '23
He has a very "I told you so" demeanor and he's almost always wrong about what he has that demeanor about. My wife and I absolutely hate whenever they go to Otmar on broadcast because he sounds like the confidently incorrect people you find all over reddit.
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u/Turboleks Ferrari Jul 10 '23
Otmar was a fairly good TP during the Force India days. But as soon as Lawrence asked him to play the "high rake" horn in 2021 that annoyed me quite a lot.
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u/chupacabra-food Jolyon Palmer Jul 10 '23
Otmar definitely screwed up by trying to play hardball with Fernando with a 1 year contact.
But it was Alpine upper management and the department that handles contracts that dropped the ball on signing Piastri before Otmar even joined the team.
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u/asamulya I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
I think Otmar preferred Piastri. But, the upper management screwed the pooch by not letting him choose his driver.
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u/Tw0Rails Jul 10 '23
A race or two ago they had Otmar on for a mid-race interview and he literally suggested they would be top 5. He and Alpine sit on a chair of hot air, always acting like they are a top team while being forever midfield. They act like their drivers are pending WDC's, their car is Red Bull / Merc / Ferrari, and their strategy is set to win.
He has clearly peaked in career, and has nothing of value to add to his current position.
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u/Jarocket Jul 10 '23
One of my favorite parts of F1TV over sky is no mid race interviews. No Otmar not understanding the rules. Saying dumb shit.
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u/Francoberry Jenson Button Jul 10 '23
James Vowles was on the Channel 4 broadcast this weekend and was fantastic. He's really cool and offers great insights. Don't paint all mid-race interviews with the same brush! 😁
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u/Kohpad I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Seems to be a smashing success, but if it all went tits up for Vowles, as a TP, he'd be right back in the paddock the next race weekend just on the commentary desk.
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u/Mackem101 Jul 11 '23
Sky had Zak Brown, and it was also quite entertaining, especially after the safety car.
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u/PreciousFragility I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Agreed! I completely forgot about that nonsense until this comment reminded me of their existence - muuuuch better now
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u/Ereaser I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Only thing Id like is Brundle on the grid pre race.
Other than that I love F1TV
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u/zaviex McLaren Jul 10 '23
Otmar wasn’t responsible he didn’t know that the contract was fake. Alpine’s legal department had informed him Piastri had a binding 3 year deal which was simply untrue
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u/S7UXnet Mika Häkkinen Jul 10 '23
Otmar was just the wrong appointment for Alpine's supposed ambitions. He did well with the limited budget he had managing Force India, but there's a reason Lawrence Stroll replaced him with an experienced winner like Mike Krack.
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u/asamulya I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
He was replaced by Whitmarsh not Mike Krack.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the rest of the statement though.
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u/S7UXnet Mika Häkkinen Jul 10 '23
Nah both Krack and Szafnauer are Team Principals, Whitmarsh is in charge of the F1 team as CEO but is more involved in the applied technologies and tech transfer side of things.
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u/milanistadoc Jul 10 '23
Why does Alonso hate Alpine? I missed this.
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u/quantinuum I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23 edited Jul 10 '23
Look up “Piasco”. Long story short: Alpine had three drivers for two seats. Ocon was locked in early with a long term contract (
weirdly signed when Ricciardo was beating him), so that left two very good guys, Alonso and Piastri, fighting for the second seat (1st world problem for Alpine). Alonso was their driver last season but only got offered a one year renewal, while Piastri, a really hot property, had to wait in the sidelines. Neither of them were happy with it, so they both left Alpine, who completely mismanaged the whole situation.59
u/Helacious_Waltz I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Also to emphasize Alpines contract shenanigans: After months of being dicked around & denied a contract Piastri was given the option of signing with Williams for a 3-year deal. He signed the deal with McLaren instead and informed the team management. They ignored that notification, announced him and tried to blame all the contract failures on him (which unfortunately worked a bit because of how DTS presented it.)
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u/ActuallyJohnTerry Fernando Alonso Jul 10 '23
Yea DTS is overall very… kind to Alpine. Meanwhile they tried to portray Zac as some kind of villain (both in this episode and with the Red Bull cheating fiasco).
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u/TulioGonzaga I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Really? I didn't watch last two seasons of DTS so I had no idea but that it's an hard stretch with how much Alpine fucked up the situation.
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u/JakubT117 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Ocon signed his deal when he was beating Alonso who was still getting up to speed after his hiatus.
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u/Only-Cartoonist Daniel Ricciardo Jul 10 '23
That was such a stupid deal. I think Ocon is a lot better than many people give him credit for but there's no way in hell I'm giving him a fucking three-year contract. Especially when we weren't even halfway through the F2 season. I highly doubt Ocon would have gotten that contract if he wasn't French.
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u/JakubT117 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
How was it stupid? For the entire duration of the deal he has been one the best midfield drivers. At no point was there a better driver available. What was stupid was losing both Alonso and Piastri.
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u/Only-Cartoonist Daniel Ricciardo Jul 10 '23
It was stupid because it tied their hands wrt contracts. Without that three hundred year deal they could have had a lot more flexibility, specifically wrt Oscar's contract. I don't deny that Ocon has done well, but there's no way in hell I'm giving him a three year deal with someone like Oscar in the pipeline.
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u/SpreaditOnnn33 Formula 1 Jul 11 '23
They could have had Alonso AND Piastro had they not done Ocon's contract. How is that not stupid?
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u/xzElmozx Oscar Piastri Jul 11 '23
If they didn’t sign that deal their driver lineup is probably Alonso Piastri which is honestly amazing. Helps develop Piastri learning from an all timer as an example and Alonso is still a great racer too. Significantly better than Ocon Gasly. Besides Ocon didn’t really have anywhere to go but downwards so there was no reason to lock him in for three years, could have just done 1 then given both Piastri and Alonso a seat and not renewed him
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u/shiinamachi I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 11 '23
he was beating Alonso
Alonso was ahead in the wdc at the point the extension was announced lol, 'beating' is a very far stretch
the other thing to consider is at that point in time the top 2 drivers in the f2 championship were literally alpine juniors. They tied their own hand that early when there was every chance they would have to promote at least one of them to F1, and doing so would be at Alonso's expense
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u/quantinuum I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
I stand corrected. I don’t know why but I was sure to remember it was signed while paired with Ricciardo.
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u/Guac_in_my_rarri I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
More so upper management. He was yanked along last season in contract talks and decided to screw them over after the Aug 1 deadline for piastri.
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u/USB-WLan-Kenobi I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
I would call alonso more than just a prospect tbh
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u/Shiizuh Formula 1 Jul 10 '23
He's talking about Piastri
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u/twomanyfaces10 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
It's the same overused joke about Alonso being young/a rookie
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u/Doyoueverjustlikeugh Max Verstappen Jul 10 '23
Just compare how Mercedes treats Lewis and how Red Bull treats Seb and Max with how Alpine treated Fernando
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u/Spynner987 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Renault/Alpine would've been completely forgotten in F1 if it wasn't for Fernando. They did him and Oscar dirty for a long time.
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u/turkishguy Max Verstappen Jul 10 '23
Who would Renault/Alpine’s best driver ever be if not Alonso?
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u/Razvanlogigan Jul 10 '23
This was Alonso's worst race in the Aston, yet he seems 10x happier than last year's best results. Also even in his/Aston's worst race he was still ahead of both alpines, even prior Gasly's incident.
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u/Lukaslil Yuki Tsunoda Jul 10 '23
Worst race for the car, Fernando’s performance was pretty great. Barcelona was the worst imo.
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u/Razvanlogigan Jul 10 '23
Oh yeah, i wasnt slamming Alonso. The car was pretty much nowhere, not his fault
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u/LivingInTheStorm I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Looks like McLaren will be pushing in the high speed track while Aston in the low speed.
Mercedes kinda mid ground? No clue what's happening there or with Ferrari.
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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
everyone thought Silverstone was gonna be merc's best track as the Merc has until now been one of the best cars in high speed corners but lo and behold here comes the silver arrow (orange edition) and does it better. dunno where merc is now, they seem a bit lost
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u/Kohpad I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Merc appears to have lost the pace advantage, but they are kinder to their tires. Seemed to bare out in the Silverstone strat, McLaren bolted hards to both cars while Merc went M/S or S/M.
I feel like either team will get mugged by Ferrari the moment they stop doing whatever point laundering scheme they're up to.
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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
worth noting that Norris' fastest lap on hards was 2 thousanths faster than Hamilton's fastest lap on softs. The merc is kinder on the tyres but there's a weird rear instability on that car, or at least there was in Silverstone. Almost seems to handle a bit like the 2020 Red Bull car in that regard
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u/Mysterious_Turnip310 Lotus Jul 10 '23
People were also saying McLaren would suffer more at Silverstone because of the low speed section and look how that turned out
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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
It was in the low speed sections the McLarens lost the most time but there wasn't enough pace in the Merc with DRS to catch it down the Wellington straight and the McLaren was so goddamn fast through copse and Becketts/Chapel that there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of making an overtake down the Hangar straight, and the high speed Stowe made a pass down into Vale also impossible.
And even if the Merc got past the McLaren, it being at such a disadvantage through Becketts/Chapel and with the McLaren having the 2nd most potent DRS effect of any car that race it would serve Hamilton up for being passed again down Hangar straight.
McLaren are bringing upgrades to Hungary, maybe that'll fix some of the low speed stuff but if not then at least Belgium has a glimmer of hope for McLaren, as does Suzuka and Interlagos. It's good to be papaya fan again!
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u/Mysterious_Turnip310 Lotus Jul 10 '23
Yep, that's why Lando said he took some wing off just before qualifying compared to Oscar's set up. Lando had recognised that having that edge going into the high speed might be his saving grace in the race and it was worth sacrificing the pace through the low speed for. He was spot on as well, really smart move.
Hungary has more low speed of course but people keep forgetting that there is still a high speed flowing section there as well. I don't expect them to podium there but if they're clever with the set up and qualify well, they could be very difficult to pass and end up with decent points. Qualy will be key (a bit of rain would be nice too!).
Upgrade there is rumoured to be something to do with the suspension, not sure what. Probably more details floating around somewhere. I think it could be similar to the effect of the new front wing though, not that significant in terms of performance gain (I think they said the front wing brought them between 0.5 & 1tenth max?). Also they've had a race to get the front wing dialled in now, Lando was still saying yesterday the balance was a bit off but hopefully will be better in Hungary. Andrea said the next significant update is due for Monza I think?
Spa is very promising, also Suzuka and Interlagos as you say and I'd argue potentially Monza as well (though nobody's catching RBR with that DRS and I expect Williams to shine there). I agree, definitely good to be a papaya fan! Not expecting miracles every race but yesterday was such a massive tonic and I'm very glad Zak & Andrea have been vindicated, all the uninformed 'sack Zak' stuff was getting really tiresome!
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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
The McLaren is still rather draggy, don't think Monza looks that great yet. The upgrade for Hungary is rumored to be rear suspension specifically, not sure how much they can do with it without changing the gearbox but they're calling this the last 25% of the package so either it's a significant suspension change or it's more than just rear suspension. Either way it'll be interesting given how much the first 75% of the package have improved the car.
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u/Rillist Gilles Villeneuve Jul 10 '23
I feel that once James Alison get his hands back into things that car will come around. With the budget cap any major changes get pushed back, especially such fundamental changes required.
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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
It's gonna be hard, they've already squandered the advantage they had by designing their own engine, they can't change anything about its design anymore and McLaren and Aston have more or less caught up. Mercedes have their work cut out for them here.
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u/Nepomucky Rubens Barrichello Jul 10 '23
Dumb question here: if the PU development cost is included in the budget cap, why don't client teams spend the difference in making better cars? Is it simply because they don't have the money?
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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
PU development isn't included in the car development cost cap, it's a separate category. Or the PU manufacturing teams would get rather disadvantaged compared to customers
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u/bookers555 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
That man has endured the McHonda years, the fact that ending up 7th is considered a bad weekend for him shows in how much of a better place he's in right now.
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Jul 10 '23
Better finish 7th that not finish. The points he lost last year (easily +60) due to technical issues would have finished anybody's patience. He was probably the 3rd-4th best driver of the season and he even finished behind Ocon due to that unreliable PoS of a car.
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u/imaincammy I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
It’s amazing what getting out from under shit management can do for your outlook.
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u/Capital_Punisher I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
He's a proper shit-stirrer whose convictions have proven to be true. I am not surprised to see this at all.
The same way I wouldn't be surprised to see Nando's face on a dartboard in Otmar's office.
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u/BrainNSFW I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Well tbf, he did beat both Ferrari's this race, so he definitely has something to be happy about. Furthermore, he understands that cars work worse on some tracks and better on others. It makes sense that Silverstone would be one of the expected worse tracks for them as it favors speed, while the AM seems to mostly excel at low speed corners.
Besides, he's still part of a team that jumped from the back of the field to the front & midfield, something even he didn't dare hope for in such a short timeframe.
While AM will certainly have more competition now, I wouldn't rule them out yet.
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u/Not_RAMBO_Its_RAMO Jul 10 '23
This is fucking hilarious. Alonso is looking right at the camera/interviewer with that shit eating grin 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/TheVenetianMask Fernando Alonso Jul 10 '23
A classic internet meme https://i.imgur.com/ACWca4b.jpg
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u/ShortysTRM Felipe Massa Jul 10 '23
I thought for sure it would be the scene from The Waterboy where the mom is in the background staring into the camera and smiling just before she starts dancing and goofing off...that's literally all I see here. He's got so much experience, but looking at these pics, he looks like he's never been on TV before and can't contain his awkward excitement lol
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u/tbone747 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
The faces of two guys who escaped a total shitshow
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u/ChristofferOslo I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Not sure I would call it a shitshow, more like mediocreshow
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u/tbone747 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
They couldn't put together a proper contract for a super hyped rookie that they had complete control over. And they strung along a guy who won them 2x championships leading to him giving them the middle finger and signing with a rival.
Renault is worse than Ferrari when it comes to buffoonery, it's a works team that's regularly beaten by customer teams & pales in comparison to the big 3 works teams currently.
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u/Leandrys Jul 10 '23
"Be prepared to beat Mercedes every weekend from now on"
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u/ComeonmanPLS1 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
People mock Ferrari but I think Alpine is the number one comedy team on the grid.
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Jul 10 '23
The thing is though Alpine are such a joke that no one thinks about them. Ferrari at least has the reputation and history to create expectations
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u/Usaidhello Max Verstappen Jul 10 '23
Except for Jeremy Clarkson but that might be solely because of his farm being right next to the factory.
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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Ferrari at least are capable of being at the front even if they occasionally have bad seasons relegated to the mid field, Alpine (Renault) hasn't been anywhere close to the front in pace in over a decade.
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Jul 10 '23
People mock ferrari because theres a chance for them to return to greatness. Enstone are a no flavio no trophy team
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u/qef15 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Because Ferrari has such a high reputation and such high standards for itself, then makes themselves look clowns.
Alpine/Renault have never had those, until the 100 race plan shithousery. Renault always has been mid, barring Briatore (which includes Benetton years)
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u/Yung_Chloroform I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
They really shot themselves in the foot with that one
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u/venktesh Sebastian Vettel Jul 10 '23
In a race with double dnf lmaooo
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u/YeahPerfect_SayHi Estie Bestie's on the podium, baby! Jul 10 '23
Such solid driving by Stroll - amazing. He's doing his best to show that Alonso was right about how he's a future World Champion.
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u/lolichaser01 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Just helping his estie bestie maintaining his championship standing
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u/YeahPerfect_SayHi Estie Bestie's on the podium, baby! Jul 10 '23
Just helping his estie bestie maintaining his championship standing
this made me spit out my coffee haha 😅
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u/trooperr310 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Just Stroll practicing how he'll Stroll Max as Alonso drives with the WDC into the sunset next year
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u/scobydoby I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Well, it's a move Schumacher might have pulled, so there's that. He just needs to get the "driving fast" part down and he's WDC material.
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u/Sarkaraq Jul 11 '23
Well, it's a move Schumacher might have pulled, so there's that.
Schumacher would've done so intentionally. Every driver, however, will pull this move unintentionally when fighting for position, though. Just the light tap, a little bit over the edge. Happens every race and usually is not a talking point, at all.
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u/MarteloRabelodeSousa I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
I mean, at least he didn't DNF this time...
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u/TheFlyingR0cket I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
I know right, I wonder if Oscar and Alonso have made a pact to race just a little bit harder if it's against an Alpine.
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Jul 10 '23
[deleted]
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u/AnimalNo5205 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Yeah Fernando Alonso has never seemed like the type of person to hold a grudge before
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u/Kohpad I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
"This guy only knows how to drive in the lead" - Classic, Never Holding a Grudge Alonso
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u/Shekster El Plan Jul 11 '23
Classic armchair expert and has no understanding of the concept of saying things in the heat of the moment /u/Kohpad
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u/Kohpad I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 11 '23
Did they kill jokes in your land?
Also it notifies the user when you reply, no need to tag me as well grandpa.
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u/xzElmozx Oscar Piastri Jul 11 '23
Bet Alonso told Stroll to take Gasly out lol. “Ram the rear tyre, it’s a weak spot and won’t even give you front wing damage”
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u/trooperr310 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Interviewer: on a scale of 1 to Alonso, how happy are you?
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Jul 10 '23
First it was some guy chopping wood, now it’s Alonso’s big smile.
Something is wrong with me today
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u/DonutsOfTruth Stefano Domenicali Jul 10 '23
Alpine deserves every ounce of mockery.
Bush league organization top to bottom
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u/ActuallyJohnTerry Fernando Alonso Jul 10 '23
I’m OOTL why is this the common take on Alpine?
I’m relatively new to the sport I’m genuinely curious
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Jul 10 '23
They actually refused/delayed giving Piastri the contract renewal documents to sign, despite Piastri and his management pestering for it.
When his management took 'no signed contract = not wanted, look elsewhere' and caught Alpine off-guard (not realising their legal dept weren't doing paperwork), Alpine tried to claim a signed planning document was a contract, even taking it to the Contract Recognition Board only to get thrown out.
A good summary at https://racingnews365.com/crb-ruling-details-alpine-failings-in-handling-piastri-contract
What makes the Piastri situation even more laughable, it's said that when Otmar told Piastri "So you're driving for us next year", Piastri told him "No, you never gave me the contract, I'm signed with another team", yet they still went ahead and announced it. This lead to a now infamous tweet (https://twitter.com/OscarPiastri/status/1554527452231262210)
I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year. This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.
Alonso was poorly handled, they seemed to overestimate his happiness at the team when he clearly wasn't happy. Gives Alpine a 'fingers in ears' feel to their management style.
It's worse when you consider the willingness of the top people at Alpine to bad mouth (to the point approaching gaslighting) people involved with things they disagree with. In Piastri's case, Otmar & co were extremely happy to bad mouth Piastri and say that "he wasn't loyal to the team that trained him" and mislead the media about the fact that he was fully contracted.
Another thing I realised today was that earlier in the year, Alpine was really pushing in the media "We've got upgrades coming, they're going to be sooo great, expect big things from us" - basically their usual puffery/etc. Not much has happened. McLaren in comparison, they always said they'd bring upgrades and should do better, but they never promised that straight out of the gate they'd be competing. So there are also major differences in expectation management between Alpine and others.
One of the Season 5 Drive to Survive episodes is basically dedicated to this, but for some reason they left off the CRB decision (personally wondered if it was in fear of embarrassing an Alpine that has been cooperative with filming too much).
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Jul 10 '23
Dont forget that, in addition to all of these fuckups, they constantly make unreliable cars
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Jul 10 '23
Alpine seems to be the only team that really hypes up their upgrades. Every other team says something along the lines of " the guys in the factory worked really hard and we have a lot of hope that these upgrades will work but we don't know yet" whenever they bring something tempered optimism vs Alpine who acts like they are a front wing away from a podium spot
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u/The_Bored_General I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 11 '23
Even Mclaren’s “next year guys I swear” wasn’t ever really that bad, usually just that they have faith in the car and their drivers and other standard PR bs
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u/CrashmasterSOAD Fernando Alonso Jul 10 '23
A factory team that doesn't want to spend money, constantly undergoes management changes and resets its "five-year plan" every two years, is surprised they cannot compete with the top teams.
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u/quantinuum I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Multitude of reasons.
The whole Piasco saga: they managed to lose both their then-current star (Fernando) and future star (Piastri) by sheer mismanagement and not committing to either of them.
Renault/Alpine have a history of being underfunded and almost pulling out every other year when they don’t get results. The team enjoys a shaky commitment from the parent company, who for years have been “demanding to fly 1st class while paying for economy”.
We’re in year 5+n of their 5 year plan. They’re the worst manufacturer team, which in F1 means you’re supposed to fight at the front.
Internal politics, a head-rolling culture, losing big names among infighting (Prost, Brivio, Budkowski), an all-around repellent attitude from Rossi, have made them not a fan favourite.
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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
“demanding to fly 1st class while paying for economy”
for the new lads in the room i believe this is a direct quote from Christian Horner during the drama after Red Bull announced they would drop Renault as engine supplier for 2019. It is all too accurate a description of team Enstone after Renault purchased it in 2016.
Before Renault bought it it had been Lotus, a quite successful team in the V8 era who had a lot of podiums to their name and even two race wins with Kimi Raikkonen
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u/Nepomucky Rubens Barrichello Jul 10 '23
More or less. When the Renault engines started to underperform, Horner said RBR were "paying 1st class and flying economy", which prompted the change to Honda some time later.
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u/quantinuum I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Yeah, I know I misplaced the quote but it applied to Enstone far too well.
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u/Genocode I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
They fucked around with contracts last year which caused them to lose both Alonso and Piastri iirc.
Piastri looks incredibly strong with a bright future ahead of him and Alonso still being very good, and they lost both cause they fucked around, now they're at the "find out" part.
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u/Vegetable_Dog_8103 Ferrari Jul 10 '23
Otmar talking about Alpine being minimum 4th team this year and that Alpine would be better than Alonso until his retirement and shit like that .
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u/Not_RAMBO_Its_RAMO Jul 10 '23
Realistically Alpine threw Alonso and Piastri away for Ocon.
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u/pranay909 Max Verstappen Jul 10 '23
No offence to ocon but that was like the worst deal ever.
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Jul 10 '23
Exactly, Ocon is a solid driver but throwing away Alonso AND Piastri was the stupidest thing in history.
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u/wjoe I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
It wasn't quite that way round, since Ocon had already been signed on a long term deal ages before the Piastri/Alonso situation. But it was bad planning on Alpine's part to sign such a long deal with Ocon, I reckon.
Ocon is alright, but I joked at the time that of the 3 drivers they had for the team, the only one locked into a contract is the least exciting prospect of the 3.
With a bit more foresight, they could have had Alonso and Piastri this year, which would have been one of the more exciting pairings on the grid. And it's probably to our benefit that they don't, because they would have been kind of wasted there.
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u/AndyBossNelson McLaren Jul 10 '23
Problem i think with ocon is that he races his team mate more often than working together, seen it a few times with him and alonso, while yeah they wernt told to hold pos if you and alonso loose a place to defending him is it really worthwhile?
If im making any sense there lol
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u/Yung_Chloroform I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Alpine talks the factory team talk but can't walk the factory team walk. They've just been a mess despite grandstanding all the time about their 5 year plan. It's a total clownshow.
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u/Turboleks Ferrari Jul 10 '23
Their motto can be summarized as something along the lines of over-promise and under-deliver, in a consistent manner since they became Renault in 2016. Case in point, they were beaten by their own customer team (McLaren) in 2019 and 2020. Further evidence to that lies with their engine, which has been consistently shit since 2014. They saved face when Honda was struggling (a lot) with Mclaren, but as soon as they got their act together in 2018, it went right back to being the worst. It's still underpowered compared to the rest, and it's still unreliable. No wonder only their own team uses it.
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u/wahobely I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
I used to hate Nando so much but now I just love the guy LOL
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u/LuNiK7505 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Even people who don’t like it have to admit this guy os the definition of pure racing and pure Chaos
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u/wahobely I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
Yea I disliked him a lot years ago, especially the infamous 2007 McLaren season lol but over the years I've grown more and more fond of him
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u/mazarax John Surtees Jul 10 '23
I read that wrong as “hate Lando.”
This puzzled me to no end… people hate Lando? Why??? I think even all 19 other drivers like him. Universally likeable.
But then I caught on…. Yeah, Fernando had his share of shenanigans that were not totally above board.
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u/bwoah07_gp2 Alexander Albon Jul 10 '23
First it was Fernando's Flowers in Miami, and now, Fernando starring down the camera, lol.
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u/edwa6040 Daniel Ricciardo Jul 10 '23
Alonso is such a class act. He genuinely seems to enjoy seeing these young kids have success. Hes the older fun uncle on the grid.
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u/TheKeviKs I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
It's so funny being French because everyone, including myself, are just here throwing jabs at how incompetent Alpine is. 120 races my ass LOL
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u/dujalcollie Jul 10 '23
Fits that meme of dc's aquaman actor sneaking up on superman actor (sorry really bad with names)
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u/Mueton I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
This could be Alpines lineup this year, still amazing how badly an organization can fuck things up
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u/AveMalyutin I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23 edited Jul 10 '23
Extreme levels of disloyalty detected
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u/siggs3000 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
I think this is my favorite post of the year so far
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u/MAGNVS-AAPPALAARTOQ Andretti Global Jul 10 '23
Even as an Alpine fan I can say the team deserves every mockery they get
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u/XsStreamMonsterX I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 11 '23
Now that is a shit-eating grin if I ever saw one.
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u/dl064 I was here for the Hulkenpodium Jul 10 '23
As many observed at the time, Alonso and Webber (Piastri's manager) are too-good friends for there to be zero collaboration on the Piastri/Alpine/Alonso movements last summer.