Soaring temperatures, busy track action and a home race for BWT. Austria kicked off Formula One’s latest double-header in an already action-packed summer

Pretty in pink

Before arriving at Spielberg, both drivers paid a visit to the global headquarters of our Title Partner BWT in Mondsee. As BWT’s home race, the Austrian Grand Prix is always one of the most important weekends of the season, with Pierre and Franco sporting our pink team shirts throughout the event in support of our Title Partner.

Alpine Academy’s Kush Maini, Alex Dunne and Nina Gademan also popped by the beautiful lakeside town with BWT, a great supporter of our fleet of young talent. With the European heatwave continuing, staying hydrated was also high on the agenda, thanks to plenty of BWT ionised mineral water.

As the final rounds of the FIFA World Cup group stage took place over the weekend, Pierre was quizzed about France’s meeting with Norway. Sitting in the FIA Drivers’ Press Conference alongside compatriot Isack Hadjar, Pierre extended an invitation to watch the match together and they were rewarded with a first-half hat-trick from Ousmane Dembélé as France secured top spot in their group.

Pierre and Franco also joined the other 20 drivers for the annual Drivers’ dinner, held on Thursday night in the Formula One motorhome with F1 CEO and President Stefano Domenicali.

Upgrades arrive in Austria

Following weeks of hard work back at Enstone, Spielberg marked the debut of a significant package of upgrades for the A526. Both cars featured a new front wing, new nose and redesigned front wing endplates to improve aerodynamic efficiency, along with revised front suspension geometry and a new diffuser winglet to optimise airflow management.

That made Friday’s practice running particularly valuable, with both drivers focused on gathering data and understanding the behaviour of the new package. Pierre completed 60 laps and Franco 58, giving the team more than 500km of running across the opening day.

The soaring temperatures also led Pierre to test the cooling vest after the FIA declared an official heat hazard for the weekend. Fortunately, as he explained in the press conference the day before, training in 36°C temperatures back home in Milan had provided ideal preparation.

Both drivers also received a fantastic reception during Friday’s Fan Forum appearance, albeit with Franco reminding the Austrian crowd of his country’s 2-0 victory over his hosts earlier in the week! And after arriving at the circuit each day in an Alpine A390 GT, Franco was particularly adept at managing to balance his ever-present Yerba mate tea in one hand while signing autographs for fans with the other.

Spielberg’s close encounters

A trouble-free final practice session prepared us for one of the closest qualifying sessions of the year. Around Austria’s short, high-speed lap, the margins are always incredibly tight, and that was reflected in the timesheets.

Pierre felt confident that his best lap was good enough to reach Q3 when he crossed the line, only for the stopwatch to reveal he had missed the cut by just four hundredths of a second, leaving him 11th on the grid.

Franco reached Q2 but struggled with the balance of the car. While trying to improve on his final attempt, a snap of oversteer at Turn 1 forced him to abandon the lap, which placed him 16th for Sunday’s race.

Another podium for Mini

It was another encouraging weekend for the Alpine Academy in Formula 2, with Gabriele Mini retaining the championship lead after finishing second in Sunday morning’s Feature Race. It marked the Italian’s seventh podium of the season, while Alex Dunne, who had qualified second, finished sixth.

Saturday’s Sprint Race also produced a strong Academy performance, with all three Alpine juniors finishing in the points. Dunne claimed fourth, ahead of Mini in fifth and Kush Maini in seventh. The trio now head to Silverstone with Mini holding a slender two-point advantage at the top of the standings.

The heat is on

The Formula 2 races highlighted the impact of tyre wear as temperatures continued to rise. By the time the Formula One race began, track temperatures had climbed to around 50°C, making rear tyre management one of the defining challenges of the afternoon.

Franco started on the medium compound before completing a two-stop strategy, switching to hard tyres and back to mediums, eventually finishing 15th — one place higher than he started. Unfortunately, at the start, he lacked full boost, causing him to drop back on the opening lap.

A similar cause also hampered Pierre’s start. He too started on mediums before stopping for hards on lap 13 and another set of mediums on lap 51. A late Virtual Safety Car for debris prompted the pit wall to try an alternative strategy with a switch to soft tyres, but with the VSC ending very quickly, the extra stint didn’t have the desired effect.

Although points ultimately proved out of reach, Pierre did become only the third French driver to surpass 10,000 laps raced in Formula One, joining former Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon and four-time World Champion, and former Renault F1 driver, Alain Prost.

The challenging conditions and lack of outright pace meant Austria brought to an end our run of scoring points at every Grand Prix this season.

“The honest assessment is we lacked the pace to really compete this weekend, and we weren’t in a position to fight for points at the chequered flag,” said Managing Director Steve Nielsen. “It’s worth noting that our pit crew did an excellent job today and played their part in five very good pit stops in hot conditions, which is no easy task.

“It’s the home race for Enstone next weekend and the fans are always amazing at Silverstone, so we’ll work hard to achieve a positive result and put on a good show.”