Why Alpine will be more disappointed by the qualifying performance in Hungary than the double DNF according to F1 journalist

F1 pundit Scott Mitchell-Malm mentioned that the Alpine F1 team will be more disappointed with their qualifying performance as both drivers could not make it past Q2 in the 2023 Hungarian GP.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly both started outside the top 10 on a track that the French team was confident heading into the weekend would suit their car.

Despite the disappointment of Saturday, both drivers made a good start and were running in good spots heading into Turn 1. However, they were both knocked out of the race after a first-corner incident involving them and Guanyu Zou and Daniel Ricciardo.

While appearing on The Race podcast, Mitchell-Malm said:

"That had come off a Saturday in which they were both pretty downcast and were like, 'Oh. Didn't expect this to be this difficult.' We were hoping that this would actually suit us in which they did nothing other than medium or the hard, which added on their negative Saturday and they were looking to come out fighting on Sunday and their race lasted about 15 seconds."

The Alpine F1 team analyzes their dismal Hungarian GP weekend

Alpine F1 team boss Otmar Szafnauer stated that everyone on the team was disappointed with the results of the weekend but accepted that they couldn't do anything to avoid the crash.

Szafnauer said, as per F1.com:

“We’re all very disappointed by today’s race with both our cars on the receiving end of an unfortunate, lap one, turn one incident. There was a concertina effect with one car hitting another leading to our two cars coming together in an unavoidable circumstance."

"Right now, it’s a bitter feeling for all of us, a tough one to take, but we must keep our heads down and bounce back. We have another race next weekend in Spa, the final one before the summer break, where we will work for better fortune and a stronger team result.”

Pierre Gasly echoed his team boss's sentiments and added:

“It’s extremely frustrating for the entire team to have a double retirement, especially in such circumstances so early into the race. I was the unfortunate victim of a crash between a handful of cars and I just had nowhere to go and no chance of avoiding the incident. It’s disappointing after making a good start off the line where I gained a couple of positions.

It will be interesting to see how the Alpine F1 team bounces back heading into the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend.