Former Formula 1 team owner Eddie Jordan has sympathised with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon amid his expectation that Alpine will struggle to make any progress this season.
Last season Alpine was bidding to build on a promising start to the latest rules cycle in 2022 when it secured a coveted fourth place behind the modern era’s big three teams.
However, the Enstone squad slumped to sixth last term, having been overhauled by Aston Martin and McLaren under the second year of the current ground effect regulations.
After undergoing a vast management reshuffle midway through the previous year, Alpine is bidding to rebound by assembling a “front to back” revamped machine for 2024.
But amid Ocon telling Sky F1’s David Croft that the A524 “is a bit slow”, Jordan predicts that the team’s “two great” drivers will have to “make the best” of a troubled situation.
“I have a sweet spot for Gasly,” Jordan told the Formula For Success podcast with ex-F1 driver David Coulthard. “I think he tries really hard and sometimes he’s a little bit unlucky.
“I’ve had a lot of good experiences with Ocon,” he continued, recounting the Frenchman’s spell with Force India, which was formerly Jordan’s eponymous squad.
“Nevertheless, do I see them making much improvement this year? Really, truthfully, no.
“I think the engine is not good enough,” he explained. “[They are] two great drivers, but you know, they’re stuck in there and they just make the best of it.”
Jordan’s comments regarding Alpine’s power deficit come after erstwhile Alpine Team Otmar Szafnauer claimed the team’s rivals broke a “gentleman’s agreement” which would have allowed engine supplier Renault to reduce its large performance disparity.
With performance improvements forbidden under the present rules set, Szafnauer concurred with Jordan’s view that the team will be hampered by Renault’s powertrain.
“The FIA have all the data and I think it was at my last-ever Formula 1 Commission meeting that the FIA put it on the agenda,” he explained in an interview with Peter Windsor.
“When the engine regulations were such that we had to freeze development in order for Red Bull to be able to use a Honda engine that wasn’t going to be developed, I wasn’t there for it but there was a gentleman’s agreement that said if the powertrain output of all the manufacturers was a percentage different than they would start looking at what to do to bring everybody in line.
“The FIA themselves said: ‘Look, [Renault are] outside of the powertrain difference window, we need to start talking about what we should do to bring the Renault engine back in line with the with the rest of them.’
“We had one meeting where I argued pretty hard on behalf of Renault to get the other engine manufacturers to do exactly what they promised when the engine freeze came about.
“But a gentleman’s agreement in Formula 1 is sometimes worth having and other times not.
“I think that discrepancy – only because it’s really hard to change now – will stay probably until ’26. So another two years, ’24 and ’25.”
