Alpine strength surprises Red Bull's Marko

Mar.6 (GMM) Alpine is knocking on the door of Formula 1’s top four teams, according to Dr Helmut Marko.

Last year, the Renault-owned team was in deep crisis, but coinciding with the arrival of ‘fixer’ and advisor Flavio Briatore, Alpine ended the season much stronger.

F1’s latest Drive to Survive series in Netflix depicted how closely Carlos Sainz came to signing for the Enstone based team for 2025.

“Carlos believes Alpine was not good enough for him and Williams was much better,” Briatore, 74, said. “Simple as that. Everybody makes mistakes.”

Indeed, while Sainz secured the overall fastest time of the pre-season test in Bahrain on a low-fuel run, Alpine’s new car was arguably turning even more heads.

“Alpine was pretty strong,” agrees former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher.

“This team could be a bit of a surprise with (Pierre) Gasly, even if not in every race. But if the rules remain stable for so long, then of course everyone will eventually get to the point where they have a competitive car.”

Also impressed with Alpine’s pre-season form is Marko, Briatore’s counterpart at Red Bull Racing.

“The French were certainly stronger than one might have thought,” he told sport.de. “They used their momentum from last year.

“Now Alpine is the first team I would put right behind the big four,” Marko added, referring to McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.

Meanwhile, although Alpine has two other reserve drivers for 2025, it has emerged that it will be Franco Colapinto who is on duty for at least the opening two grands prix in Australia and China.

On loan from Williams and championed by renowned champion-finder Briatore, Colapinto’s presence has already piled the pressure on the shoulders of Gasly’s rookie teammate, Jack Doohan.

Some think Doohan’s F1 career could even be as short as just five races.

“I was quite proud of him being punchy with you all,” Alpine team boss Oliver Oakes smiled last week at Bahrain, after journalists had bombarded Doohan with questions about Colapinto.

“I actually feel for him, because I get that everybody wants the clickbait and that’s a discussion topic. But I think also he should be given a bit of space to just get on with it for a few rounds,” Oakes added.

“Flavio said it, didn’t he? That we’re starting the season with Jack and Pierre and then let’s see how it all goes. We want the best drivers, we want the best engine. I think we’ve been really honest as a team as to what we’re doing.

“Our target is to continue where we ended up at the end of last year – kind of clipping at the heels of those front teams. Both drivers have been pretty happy with the car,” he said.