‘We’re looking forward to trailing the new race weekend” – Marcin Budkowski

Marcin Budkowski, the Executive Director of the Alpine F1 Team, is looking forward to the next challenge that the British Grand Prix brings.

Silverstone will be the first track to trial the new sprint race format, giving a smaller thirty-minute race instead of a third practice session. How the track finishes that race will be how the grid lines up for Sunday’s race. And Budkowski is expecting there to be some unpredictability around the shorter races.

“We’re looking forward to trialling the new race weekend format for the very first time this weekend in Silverstone. It’s definitely something new and will create some action on all three days.

“For the teams, the main challenge will be to setup the cars and build the drivers’ confidence in one hour of practice on Friday morning only, as we then go straight into Qualifying,” said Budkowski.

“The cars will be in parc ferme from that point onwards, which means we can’t really touch them anymore. There are also different rules for tyre usage, including free choice for the race itself.

“We expect the new format to bring more uncertainty as some teams will get it right and others might not, which could mix the grid up and create more on-track action. Teams hate unpredictability as they always try to optimise everything to perfection, but it should be more exciting for the fans!“

Alpine F1 Team had a mixed time during the recent triple-header. Fernando Alonso finished every race in the points but Esteban Ocon failed to collect any. Budkowski hopes the upcoming race give fortune to both drivers.

“The car was competitive in Austria, but the race result did not reflect our potential. Fernando had strong pace in qualifying and the race, but we weren’t able to convert it into bigger points because of the incident in Qualifying.

“Silverstone, though, is a completely different challenge. It’s an exciting track with a lot of high-speed corners that drivers enjoy racing at. The weather can be a factor there, and with the new format, it’s shaping up to be a very interesting weekend.“