Piastri secret weapon for Alpine at COTA

Alpine will start the United States Grand Prix confidently, reports Auto, Motor und Sport. Between a new floorpan, a new combustion engine with Fernando Alonso, and Oscar Piastri's training data, the French team is hoping for a strong race.

Alpine could look back on the race in Japan with satisfaction. Esteban Ocon managed to stay ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fourth place, and in seventh, Alonso also took precious points. In the battle for fourth place, Alpine is now thirteen points ahead of rival McLaren. The next race, at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), also looks promising for Alpine again.

This is because the track has been resurfaced, removing many of the bumps and making the track a lot flatter. For many teams, this will be a new adjustment, but Alpine has a secret weapon for this: Oscar Piastri. The Australian was at the heart of a contract row this summer and is leaving for McLaren at the end of the season, but still collected important data for Alpine this spring by driving an extensive training session at COTA. "It was our worst circuit last year and we wanted to know why," explains operations manager Alan Permane.

Alonso will in all likelihood get a new engine part. As this is his sixth change in that area, he will get a grid penalty, but as the corresponding penalty is only five places, there is a good chance he could still finish in the points. It is likely that this change will be made official on Saturday.

In addition, Alpine will also benefit extra from the practice sessions. Whereas McLaren will let Alex Palou take a seat in Ricciardo's car on Friday, Alpine have moved their rookie practice sessions to later races so that Alonso and Ocon can take full advantage of the full time allowed on track.