Las Vegas A Great Chance For Alpine To Continue Renewed Form

Both the Alpine drivers- Esteban Ocon as well as Pierre Gasly demonstrated excellent and rather surprisingly, if one might add, to clinch two of the three podium positions. Even it wasn’t a race win for the French constructor, formerly, known as Renault, Alpine had a savoury moment as far as the 2024 Formula 1 season is concerned.

But just when one ran the risk of calling the performance of the Alpine drivers as being somewhat fortunate or let’s say, a flash in the pan occurrence with their chances of dominating the grid being paper thin following Interlagos, the scenes at Las Vegas suggest.

Even as Esteban Ocon, who most recently earned his maiden podium of the season is all set to begin his Las Vegas Grand Prix from eleventh on the grid, his teammate has made it to the top three again.

Starting ahead of Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, Pierre Gasly, it could be argued, is all set to contest an interesting battle with his close friend in the red Scuderia. Having said that, should it be a closely-fought race until the checkered flag, there is an actual chance that Pierre Gasly may earn his second podium position in 2024.

On the whole, there is just one Alpine car in the reckoning for points where it stands at present. And that car is that of Pierre Gasly; Ocon in the other car may likely have a tough fight with the duo of Lewis Hamilton (the Mercedes driver in tenth) and Nico Hulkenberg (the Haas driver in tenth).

What was rather surprising is the fact that the German, who despite seeming fast in the free practice session, wasn’t able to pick up a strong fight, while on the other hand, Hamilton, who was topping the charts for the better part of free practice, was stuck in tenth.

Not being able to deliver a cracker of a lap in the decisive stages certainly hurt Sir Lewis Hamilton’s chances. But truth be told, the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix offers an interesting opportunity to both Alpine drivers.

Factually speaking, even Esteban Ocon, who’s all set to begin from eleventh, isn’t all that distant from a point scoring opportunity. This, regardless, of being tied to conjecture doesn’t undermine the fact that out in the front, the pointed part of the grid may well have some action-packed surprises.

Remember what could actually, figuratively speaking, impact Alpine’s race could be the fact that Max Verstappen and Lando Norris (both closely involved in the championship fight) begin the race at the Las Vegas strip from fifth and sixth on the grid, respectively.

And while one would hope to see an accident-free race, and one that is still action-packed as it is dramatic, Pierre Gasly would still be in the drivers’ seat to finish the contest strongly. For a team that has come under intense scrutiny having endured a modest season with just 49 points to their name and as a matter of fact, a barely-there advantage over the next team (in that case being Haas with 46 points), Vegas could be an exciting battle.

But the big question is, will the team currently P6 on the Constructors’ Standings, with a 37-point deficit to Aston Martin who are right ahead, be able to deliver a big weekend?