Alpine Formula 1 Team boss Flavio Briatore has confirmed the team has moved on from a disastrous race in Baku ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
Alpine was left licking its wounds following the Azerbaijan GP, after a disastrous Safety Car restart saw Franco Colapinto wipe out teammate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris after locking up into the first corner.
Both Alpines were eliminated on the spot, robbing the team of an almost certain points finish, a significant setback in their battle with Racing Bulls in the Constructors’ championship.
Briatore and the team were less than impressed with Colapinto’s antics, the Argentinian publicly apologising for his blunder.
Ahead of this weekend’s action in Sepang, Brtiatore has said the incident has now been put to bed, stating “the past is the past”.
“Whatever we do is internal to the team,” Briatore said in the Teams Principal’s Press Conference.
Sure, I was very disappointed when it happened in Baku, but it’s another race. Everybody forgets, you know.
“We need to keep looking always for the future, and the past is the past, and nothing can be done.
“I was upset, yes, like I believe everybody in the team was, including Franco, for the mistake he made. But this is the past.
“We need to go ahead and think about the future, talking about the race today, the qualifying tomorrow, and the race on Sunday. And every race is a different scenario.
“Last weekend was not nice for us at all, and we are fighting for the fifth position with Racing Bulls. We give away a lot of points.
“After that, it’s finito. What can we do? Whatever we’ve done, it’s impossible to come back.”
Racing Bulls not penalised
Briatore did however voice his displeasure at Arvid Lindblad not being penalised after taking out Liam Lawson in a similar fashion.
Briatore stated, “Coming back to Baku, something I really, really don’t understand is this: we were penalised, and we deserve to be penalised.
“I don’t understand why Racing Bull was not penalised, because Lindblad had done exactly the same to Lawson.
“Why were we penalised and Lindblad was not penalised?”
Briatore’s confirmation that the team has moved on from its Baku disaster will have been done to raise morale and to keep focus forwards, but Alpine will be aiming for a drama free weekend at Sepang.
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