How Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon are helping Alpine gather home support: “We’re not exactly Ferrari”

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi mentioned that despite being a French outfit, they do not have the same level of home support that Ferrari has in Italy.

The Italian team has some of the most passionate fans in the world known as Tifosi, who passionately show their support for the Prancing Horses year after year. Rossi mentioned that by having a full French driver's lineup courtesy of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, they are trying to get more home support.

Speaking on the Beyond The Grid podcast, he said:

“[Gasly’s signing] helps us in a way to convey a bit of Alpine legacy, which is nice because Alpine is a brand from Normandy. So that is pretty cool actually because we want to keep the past, the heritage, and project it into the future. So those two [Gasly and Ocon] are a fantastic embodiment of that right?"

He continued:

“It helps us in France, also to convey a bit of this French team and rally the crowd behind us. Because we’re not exactly Ferrari. It’s not a religion in France, right? You can be from the north or south of Italy and everyone loves Ferrari."

"In France, we like to have our own little conflicts and disagreements. So at the very least, they don’t have to choose now, both of the French drivers are on our team. So we are the French team.”

"I want to stay consistent in my position" - Ferrari team boss

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur mentioned that he would have liked to have 1-2 like Red Bull at the Bahrain GP and not have a DNF. Speaking to F1.com, Vasseur said:

“I never saw a car able to match the pace of another one in quality and not be able to in the race. It’s a matter of set-up and some choices on the car – it’s not a matter of concept at all. It’s never good to start with a DNF and I would’ve preferred to finish like Red Bull, for sure."

"But now I want to stay consistent in my position. I told the team before [the test] in Bahrain two weeks ago that the championship won’t be over in Bahrain – it doesn’t matter the result in any case. It was true for the winter test, and it’s true for [the first race]."

It will be fascinating to see how quickly Ferrari can bounce back from their less-than-ideal start to the season in Bahrain for the upcoming races in 2023.