Unlike on other occasions, the head of the French team did not point at his drivers; instead, he offered self-criticism
The drivers of the French team also didn't hide their discomfort after the race. "We had problems with the car, with the balance. Today it didn't work for us as a team and we didn't have pace," summarized the Argentine driver.
Meanwhile, the French driver was even harsher: "I felt the lack of grip throughout the entire race and I struggled in every stint. I'm not sure of the reason, but we need to review this because it was a very long and frustrating afternoon".
With this poor performance, Alpine ended the weekend as the last team in the constructors' championship, 15 points behind its closest rival: Kick Sauber (9th with 26), which managed to get both of its cars into the points, one of them Bortoleto, who scored his first points of the season.
The next round at Silverstone, a circuit more favorable to the A525, will be key to at least try to close the gap to the teams closest in the standings.
The Austrian Grand Prix was one of the worst for Alpine. On track, they were clearly outperformed by all the other teams except Williams, which retired both of its cars due to mechanical failures, and neither Franco Colapinto nor Pierre Gasly managed to enter the points zone.
After the race, Flavio Briatore, who had criticized his drivers on Saturday by demanding more performance, this time had to take responsibility for the A525's poor level: "This level of performance is frankly becoming increasingly concerning," he acknowledged.
"We're losing ground to our direct rivals after another race without scoring a single point," the Italian added. "The car was fast yesterday and should've comfortably made it into Q3 with our two drivers, but Sundays show a completely different picture," he explained.
"It's essential that we understand why, especially if we want to reverse the trend and relaunch our season from this very delicate position," he concluded.
