BWT Alpine F1 Team - It’s a marathon, not a sprint 14.03.2023: STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX Jeddah Corniche Circuit 17-19 March 2023 The team heads to Saudi Arabia for the second race of the season determined for a cleaner and better executed race weekend than shown in Bahrain. Team Principal Otmar Szafnau

STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX
Jeddah Corniche Circuit
17-19 March 2023




The team heads to Saudi Arabia for the second race of the season determined for a cleaner and better executed race weekend than shown in Bahrain. Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer explains the team’s reflections on the season-opener and looks ahead to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the fast and enthralling Jeddah Corniche Circuit.         



How has the team debriefed on the first race of the season?


We left Bahrain with mixed feelings. On one side, we were satisfied to come away with points given Pierre raced from the back of the grid to ninth place and his drive required good decisions, a well-executed strategy and strong race pace; all of which we showed.



On the other side, we made too many mistakes across the weekend, and we can all do a better job to improve on those. I believe Esteban’s race was a one-off, a culmination of a string of errors, some on his side, some operationally, and his side of the garage will undoubtedly bounce back in Saudi Arabia.



Right now, we know the A523 has potential. We just have not exploited everything to the maximum yet and there’s work ahead of us to achieve that. It’s a long season, we’ve opened up with points and we must keep pushing as a team.






What areas does the team need to improve?


It’s important that we remember that we are one race into the season and we have 22 to go. We’ve only been to one circuit with the car in full capacity so there’s much more to come and much more to learn and develop. Our race pace looks better than single-lap pace, so we know low fuel is a key area for us to improve.



Esteban did a good job to reach Q3, while Pierre has more to learn to get the tyres into the right window to maximise everything over one lap. We will stick together and work hard as a team to drive ourselves further up the grid.




What are your thoughts of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit?


The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is certainly exciting for the drivers. It’s fast, little time to rest, unforgiving in places and probably the most thrilling street circuit on the calendar. It’s mainly medium to high-speed and a completely different challenge to Bahrain, so it will be interesting to see the cars on a different circuit and seeing where we stand.


There have been some changes to Jeddah this year to improve visibility for drivers on track, so it will be important to understand the drivers’ feedback on those changes.





What would constitute a good weekend for the team in Saudi Arabia?


I’d like to see a smooth weekend from the team with no operational errors and to have both cars well inside the points. It will be interesting to see the competitive order on a completely different track to what we’ve seen so far, and I firmly believe there’s much more to come from us.



The team is determined for a much better race in Jeddah and it’s great to see everyone’s motivation to deliver an improved performance.
 



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