Karun Chandhok says driver with four podiums was ‘ranting a lot’ in Bahrain GP

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Alpine driver Pierre Gasly was ‘not a happy bunny’ during Saturday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok says.

The Enstone outfit endured a miserable start to the new season in Sakhir, locking out the back row in qualifying before finishing 17th and 18th in the race, with Esteban Ocon leading home Gasly.

Chandhok was listening to the team radio during the race for Sky Sports F1, and he says that the latter was repeatedly venting his frustration at his team’s struggles.

The only drivers Alpine were able to beat were Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, who saw his race ruined by a 52-second pit-stop, and Williams’ Logan Sargeant, who briefly stopped in the run-off area early in the race.

Alpine scored 120 points in last year’s world championship, which was enough to finish sixth in the standings between Aston Martin and Williams.

Gasly finished just outside the top 10 in the drivers’ table in his first season with the team after leaving AlphaTauri, scoring 62 points to Ocon’s 58.

Gasly fumes at Alpine woes during Bahrain GP

Chandhok, who drove for HRT and Lotus during his brief stint in F1 at the start of the previous decade, said Gasly had plenty of complaints about the A524.

The 28-year-old, who’s finished on the podium four times during his career, apparently felt that the car was understeering and was in slow in getting out of the corners too.

Speaking on lap 22 out of 57, he said: “Gasly’s saying a lot more on the radio. He’s ranting a lot. He says it can’t turn, it doesn’t rotate and the traction’s terrible. He’s not a happy bunny in that car. There’s a lot of swear words I’m not gonna mention on air.”

Alpine have work to do after Gasly and Ocon struggle in Bahrain

Gasly’s team-mate Ocon had struck a markedly more diplomatic tone after qualifying 19th on Friday, telling the team over the radio to ‘keep going’ and ‘keep pushing’.

BBC F1 pundit Alice Powell said that it was looking bleak for the manufacturer after Thursday’s practice sessions, noting that ‘they’ve certainly got a lot of work to do’.

There are still 23 races remaining in the longest F1 season ever, but team principal Bruno Famin will be under pressure to deliver a huge improvement after last season’s overhaul.

They look like a team in transition right now after sacking Famin’s predecessor Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane midway through last season.

But a group of investors including actor Ryan Reynolds, golfer Rory McIlroy and footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold will nonetheless be expecting better.