Ted Kravitz says £1bn F1 team apologised to their driver for how bad the car was in Singapore

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The Singapore Grand Prix is one of the tougher races on the calendar due to the extreme heat drivers get subjected to over the two hours.

This year’s race was no different as drivers tackled temperatures as high as 40°C in the car, meaning it was a tough race without problems on track.

For Alpine, it was always going to be a difficult race from the outset for both their drivers who started from the back of the grid after disappointing qualifying sessions.

Starting from P18 on the grid, Pierre Gasly could only manage P17 at the chequered flag while Esteban Ocon finished in P13. Both were helped somewhat by Daniel Ricciardo’s late pit stop to set the fastest lap, while Kevin Magnussen also suffered a puncture that forced him to pit.

But it was an otherwise miserable afternoon for the French outfit, which prompted Alpine to apologise to Gasly over team radio after the race according to Sky Sport’s Ted Kravitz.

Alpine apologise to Pierre Gasly for terrible Singapore GP

It was the third time in a row that Gasly failed to score points, having last finished inside the top 10 at the Dutch GP.

The Frenchman was frustrated throughout the race complaining of a lack of grip from his tyres with his engineer, John Howard, issuing an apology after the race.

“Gasly went long and had a slow pit stop with the right rear, then lost time between the two Sauber’s,” said Kravitz.

“Gasly said he had no traction on the tyres, he finished P17 and had an apology from his engineer afterwards and said ‘The car is not good enough, we will try to make it better’.”

Alpine falls behind Williams in Constructors’ Championship

Another pointless outing for the £1bn F1 team means they are still stuck behind Williams in the Constructors’ Championship, having been overtaken by them at the Azerbaijan GP.

Both Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon scored points for the team while Gasly and Ocon suffered setbacks with their power units that caused them to qualify towards the back of the grid, and subsequently finish outside of the points.

READ MORE: What people at Alpine’s Enstone factory have been told about the potential sale of their F1 team

Alpine faces fresh questions heading into the mini-break before the next race at Austin over how it will proceed with its engine division, after revealing plans to migrate its workforce to other areas of the business by the end of 2025.

A failed F1 team entry, LKYSUNZ claimed it would be interested in buying the entity from Renault having sent them a second investment proposal in August.