Alpine making “huge effort” to stockpile spare parts · RaceFans

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer says the team will use the unplanned break between F1 rounds to stock up on spare parts.

Last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix was originally due to be followed by the Chinese Grand Prix on April 16th, before that was cancelled. F1 announced in December the Covid-19 situation in the country prevented a return this year.

In January F1 confirmed China’s race would not be replaced, leaving three consecutive weekends in April without a race. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s grand prix, Szafnauer said that period would be a valuable opportunity for the team to produce all the spares it needs.

“The break wasn’t planned but it is a welcome break for both getting ample car parts and spares, as well as when we bring developments. There’s a huge effort to make enough of those parts to ensure that you can really push hard – so that definitely helps.”

Alpine’s drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly subsequently retired from Sunday’s race when they collided during the final standing restart, damaging both A523s and putting greater strain on the team’s supply of spare parts.

Szafnauer said the team needs to ensure it has a plentiful supply of spares for the next round in Baku. The high-speed street circuit has seen several heavy impacts in recent seasons, and the risk of cars being damaged will grow this year due to the addition of a sprint race.

“There is more jeopardy because it’s a street race and some of the walls are pretty close,” said Szafnauer. “Like I said the nice thing is we’ve got this three-week break to make some spares in order to be prepared for both the sprint race and the race in Baku. Hopefully it’ll all be okay and we won’t suffer in Miami.”

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Alpine will also use the long gap between races to press on with their development programme for the A523, said Szafnauer. “The break allows you to plan further upgrades that you find through your simulation tools, and knowing that the break is there, you plan them a bit differently – but it definitely helps,” he said.

McLaren, the team’s closest rival throughout last season, also plans to bring significant upgrades to its car over the coming races but Szafnauer is confident Alpine will remain competitive.

“We too have a decent-size upgrade coming for Baku and then a little bit more only a week later in Miami, so we continue to push the upgrades out,” he said.

“The important thing is that…