"It won't be a big deal" - Alpine confident that the dual collision in Australia will not affect the budget cap situation for the team

Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer is confident that the damage from the clash between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in Australia won't affect the budget cap situation for the team.

The French drivers collided with each other in the final laps of the race after the last safety car restart. The incident meant that both Gasly and Ocon were unable to continue in the race and squandered a double-point finish for the team.

However, speaking to Formu1a.uno, Szafnauer said:

"It won't be a big deal for the budget cap, but this has changed our priorities. Now it will take a lot of effort at the factory to produce the spare parts in time for Baku and then work on the developments. Luckily there are three weeks off before the next race. We hope to make it in time and not have problems for Baku and Miami.

“Both apologized, which means both thinking they did something wrong. Also seeing the onboards, as much as I can try to blame one of them, I see it as a racing accident. Ocon tried to follow Tsunoda, Gasly was getting back on the ideal race line and it happened. It can happen.”

"It might be a way forward" - Alpine team boss on breaks between race weekends

The Alpine Team Principal also said that having mid-season breaks like the current one between Australia and Baku might be the way forward for the sport as it moves towards having more race weekends in the future.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, the Romanian-American said:

"This break, although not planned, in a calendar that has 23 races and a lot of back-to-back and triple-headers, it's nice to have a three-week-break now, a three-week break in August, and a break at Christmas. Maybe it's just so by luck that we gain the knowledge [from the unplanned trial run in 2023] that it's good to do it this way.

"Maybe it should be by design in the future. I know the season just started but it's not about just the start of the season because a lot of people have worked hard over the winter, prepared the car for testing, then the races and now to have a bit of a break just helps you in what's coming up. And then in August, you have another break. It might be a way forward."

Hopefully, the three-week break will work in favor of Alpine as they look to recover from the disaster in Melbourne.