Alpine performance “not acceptable” for works F1 team, admits Famin

However, the Frenchman remains confident that the team can recover in the coming months on the back of a restructuring that has seen a switch to a new system with three technical directors.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly qualified 19th and 20th in Bahrain, and finished 17th and 18th, beating only the delayed cars of Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) and Logan Sargeant (Williams).

After the flag the drivers issued upbeat messages to their team, with Ocon reminding the crew that it was only the first race and that there is still time for improvement.

“It’s very important and I really thank both drivers,” Famin told Motorsport.com. “Because we heard the message from Esteban, but Pierre was also very positive in his message.

“They are very constructive, very positive, considering the race we have made. And this is the spirit of everybody in the team. That’s a very positive note in a very negative weekend.

“Because if we are factual, the weekend was very bad. But we trust that we have a team that will work together to improve the situation as quickly as possible.”

Asked if there was now pressure from top Renault management to get results, Famin said the team doesn’t have to be told that it has to improve.

“What I was saying about the positive note about the rest of the team and the drivers, we don’t need anybody to put the pressure on us to know that this is not acceptable,” he said.

“That’s just the first race. It’s the same for everybody, of course, but the car is new, let’s develop it. I’m quite optimistic in the fact that we can go out of this position, which was indeed very bad.

“And all the team will push on that. I think we put on ourselves the pressure, and we perfectly know that we have to improve, and improve quickly.”

Both drivers have indicated that the team knows what direction it needs to take, but Famin says that there is no specific timetable for when developments will reach the track and have a positive impact.

“How long it will take, I don’t know, to be honest,” he said. “Like all the teams we have upgrades coming, of course. We have theoretical figures about what the upgrades will bring, we’re pushing for having those upgrades as soon as possible.

“But everybody’s in the same situation, even the first one on the grid, or on the podium. Everybody’s pushing, and the challenge is to go faster than the…