Alpine addressed claims of sabotage toward their own driver, Franco Colapinto, in a statement released Thursday.
Accusations were rampant on social media following the Chinese Grand Prix last month when Colapinto said he might have been more competitive had he had certain technical additions that were on the car of teammate Pierre Gasly.
Colapinto finished 10th in the race, while Gasly was sixth and 49 seconds ahead of his teammate. Gasly then finished seventh at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, while Colapinto was 16th.
Racing fans were also critical of Haas driver Esteban Ocon, who made contact with Colapinto at the Chinese Grand Prix.
“Having reviewed the reaction online and on social media after the Japanese Grand Prix, as a team, we feel we owe it to our fans to address certain points and questions being raised, and also once again speak out against the hate and abuse being aimed at not just one of our own drivers, but also aimed towards our racing counterparts and other members of the Formula One family,” Alpine said in their statement Thursday.
The team also addressed anger pointed toward Colapinto following a crash at Japan involving Oliver Bearman.
“First of all, the most important thing is the safety and wellbeing of the drivers and thankfully Ollie is OK,” Alpine said. “The closing speeds are a characteristic of these cars and as stated by the FIA, it’s something that will be closely reviewed in the coming weeks.
“The FIA also reviewed the incident involving Franco and Ollie during the race and deemed that no further action was necessary.”
As for the difference in their own cars, Alpine said the setups are essentially similar aside from “some small low-performance impacting parts,” that are due to gearbox changes.
“Any questions about sabotage or not giving Franco the same car are completely unfounded, which is why the team felt the need to speak out. There might be times this year when pushing in the development race that upgrades come to one car first, which the team will communicate and be completely transparent about. That being said, the aim will always remain to bring upgrades to both cars where possible.”
–Field Level Media
