BWT Alpine F1 Team
TEAM PROFILE
Known in the F1 paddock as “Team Enstone”, the current Alpine F1 team has seen many name changes over its 42-year history. Originally starting out as Toleman in the 1980s, notably facilitating the debut of Ayrton Senna in 1984, taking a memorable 2nd place in the Monaco GP of the same year. Benetton Group purchased the team, running under the Benetton name from 1986-2001. After a single race with Jordan, Michael Schumacher’s career kicked off, racing with the team from 1991-95 and winning back-to-back World Driver’s Championships in 1994/95. Schumacher’s departure coincided with a slow decline in on-track performance, with the team being purchased by Renault in 2001. Armed with the talented Fernando Alonso, Renault climbed back up the standings culminating in another back-to-back Driver’s World Championship courtesy of Alonso in 2005/06. The famous Lotus name made a brief return from 2012-15 with the Genii Capital Group buying out Renault, winning two races with Kimi Raikkonen. The French marquee returned in 2016, renaming the team to Alpine from the 2021 season onward with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, the former taking his first race win in the 2021 Hungarian GP. The 2023 season will see an all-French lineup with Ocon being paired with former Red Bull and Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly.
BWT Alpine F1 Team
DRIVER LINE-UP
Esteban Ocon
Key Data:
DOB: 17th September 1996
Nationality: French
Lives in: Geneva, Switzerland
Current Team: BWT Alpine F1 Team
Background info:
Esteban Ocon’s rise to Formula One was not a typical graduation through the feeder series. Ocon raced karts from the age of 10 in 2006, winning championships competing against countrymen Gasly and the late Anthoine Hubert. 2012 saw Ocon’s single seater career begin, racing in Formula Renault for two years before graduating to European Formula 3, winning the title on his first attempt. Ocon dominated this season, beating the likes of Max Verstappen to the championship with three races to spare. Ocon moved to GP3 (now F3) in 2015 and won this title in his first attempt. 2016 saw Ocon move away from single-seaters and into DTM as a Mercedes junior, while also being loaned out as Renault’s reserve driver. Later in the 2016 season saw Ocon’s F1 chance materialise, debuting for the now defunct Manor team for the second half of the season. Ocon earned a move up the grid with Force India in 2017/18 alongside Sergio Perez, scoring points in his first race for the team and generally showing well against his more experienced teammate with a best finish of 5th place. Force India being bought out by Lawrence Stroll midway through 2018 meant that there was no room for Ocon, who took up a reserve role at Mercedes for 2019. Ocon re-joined the grid in 2020 racing for Renault alongside Daniel Ricciardo, earning his first Formula One podium finishing 2nd at the Sakhir Grand Prix. It got better in 2021 as Renault became Alpine, Ocon winning his first race at the wet 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, before finishing ahead of double world champion Fernando Alonso in the 2022 standings. Ocon holds the current F1 record of most consecutive race finishes from the start of his career – 27.
Pierre Gasly
Key Data:
DOB: 7th February 1996
Nationality: French
Lives in: Milan, Italy
Current Team: BWT Alpine F1 Team
Background info:
Born in the same city of Rouen, France as 2023 Alpine teammate Ocon, Pierre Gasly’s family had been involved in motor racing through three generations, all but ensuring Pierre would follow a similar career trajectory. First racing a kart at the age of 6, Gasly grew up racing with the likes of fellow F1 drivers Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon. Starting his single-seater career in 2011, Gasly raced in the French Formula 4 championship, winning three races in his debut season, including victory at Spa. Gasly’s first championship came in the 2013 season in which he won the Formula Renault Eurocup title. It was late 2013 that saw Gasly’s career take another step closer to F1, joining the Red Bull Junior Team alongside Carlos Sainz Jnr and graduating to GP2 (now known as F2). Racing for the Prema team in 2016 alongside Antonio Giovinazzi, Gasly won the 2016 GP2 series championship. More success followed in 2017, Gasly winning the Japanese Super Formula series amidst his Formula One debut for the Toro Rosso team. Gasly became a full-time Formula One driver from the 2018 season, impressing from very start – the highlight being a 4th place finish in the opening race of the season at Bahrain. With Daniel Ricciardo departing the Red Bull senior team, there was an opening alongside Max Verstappen, earning Gasly a promotion to a race-winning team. Unfortunately for Gasly, a poor run of results meant he was replaced by Alex Albon after the Hungarian GP of 2019. Back at Toro Rosso, Gasly responded in the best way possible, finishing on the podium at the 2019 Brazilian GP in second place ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Despite his strong finish to the season, 2020 saw Gasly remain at the re-named Alpha Tauri team. The highlight of Gasly’s F1 career thus far came in the 2020 Italian GP, winning an incident-filled race and becoming the first Frenchman to win an F1 race since Olivier Panis in 1996 – Gasly’s year of birth! Retained for 2021 at Alpha Tauri, Gasly had his best season in F1 to date, finishing 9th in the standings with 110pts and a best finish of 3rd place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. With a more uncompetitive Alpha Tauri for a third consecutive season in 2022, Gasly outshone teammate Yuki Tsunoda over the season finishing with 23pts and a best finish of 5th – again at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Thanks to the driver market musical chairs and subsequent vacancy, Gasly signed a multi-year contract with Alpine, partnering up with childhood friend and rival Esteban Ocon for 2023 and beyond.
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Google Reviews
My husband and I had a wonderful experience with The Grand Prix Tours. The accommodation was amazing, communication with this company was brilliant when I had a few questions and the seating for the actual Grand Prix qualifying and race day was perfect, as we got to see all the overtaking on the corner. I would highly recommend this company and look forward to using them again in the future!!
Myself and my son became Grand Prix Grand Tourists for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa…. GPGT took care of everything, flight were perfect, airport transfers ran smoothly, hotel in Brussels was stunning and comfortable, seats in the gold 4 grandstand were beyond anything we could have expected,transfers from hotel to race were good fun and interesting especially trying to exit the carpark at the end of both days!! But hey, it was expected…Stefan our guide and the drivers were really friendly and looked after us well.Please thank Jamie at your office, he was brilliant, kept us informed on every item….I would recommend you guys 100% to anyone thinking of using your services
Thank you GPGT for organising the trip to Spa for me. My husband and son had the most amazing time.My specific wishes of where they wanted to sit at the circuit were fulfilled perfectly. The organisation, communication and clear instructions by GPGT from start to finish has been first class, well done everyone.I look forward to using this company again and would recommend their services over and over again. Easily 5 ⭐️
We had a fantastic time at the Hingarian Grand Prix. Everything was organised for us. In particular, the communication from booking to race day was excellent. We look forward to travelling with GPGT again.
Just got back from the Hungarian Grand Prix. I booked this as a surprise for my partner’s birthday and GPGT were great from the start. I wouldn’t have known where to start arranging this myself but everything was organised, communication great and everything happened exactly as they said it would! hotel was nice, all transfer pick ups were on time and seats at the Grand Prix were great! I booked the flights separately myself but was really pleased when GPGT still sorted airport transfers for us. They made it a simple, stress free and very enjoyable weekend!
Freshly back from a superb trip to the Spanish Grand Prix - what a weekend and experience! All arrangements from point of booking, pre-travel, and the weekend itself, were seamless and very well coordinated.Our grand stand seats were spectacular, in front of the starting grid and pits, with brilliant views of all the action.We’re already planning which race to book for next year. Thanks to everyone on the GPGT team for making it a very easy and unforgettable experience 🙂
So pleased to have chosen GPT for F1 Monaco - they were really responsive to all emails and phone calls. The advice for hotel in Nice walking distance to the rail station was really perfect (23 minutes to central Monaco). Hotel was great choice for this weekend as we were only there to sleep and it was comfortable clean with helpful staff. Transfers from airport to hotel and return were very efficient and professional - they anticipated late arrival and departure so were ready and waiting to take us both ways in high quality vehicles. Our seats were in one of the main grandstands (K 4) with great views of the track and harbour with a huge screen opposite to see all the action around the track. It was a big decision choosing the company to supply the Grand Prix experience, I read many reviews and GPT stood out, very happy to have chosen them.
We chose GPGT for our 1st F1 experience and we were not disappointed. Bahrain was an incredible experience everything went like clockwork. Well done to the team at GPGT’s we are very much looking forward to our next event.
Having never done a package for a GP I wasn’t sure what to expect. I need not have worried. From the start the communication was excellent with clear instructions regarding flights, transfers and hotel.The airport transfers were easy and the driver was professional and attentive and the hotel was out of this world. The circuit transfers were easy and informative with a local guide who gave us information on local areas of historic importance and local facts and recommendations for nice places to eat.I would recommend this company to anyone who is looking to attend a GP abroad. You won’t be disappointed.
From the moment we booked our Monaco GP tour until the end of the trip, we had nothing but a brilliant experience with this company. Our initial trip was postponed due to Covid and Simon and Jay were always at the end of the phone to answer any questions and reassure us. As for the trip itself, everything was well thought out - from the flight and transfers to the hotel in Nice (clean, comfortable and an easy walk to the train station so we could easily get to Monaco and back). We upgraded our tickets for the Grand Prix after chatting to Simon about the kind of view we wanted and they were superb - right in the middle of the action. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that we will never forget and we can’t wait to book our next F1 tour with the company . Thanks all
Like to say a massive thanks to John and the team for a totally hassle free Monaco F1 weekend.Start to finish they are totally professional, quick to respond to emails, and providing all the relevant information required before flying out!The trip itself went without any issues, accommodation chosen in Nice, with its roof top bar, was a perfect way to relax after full day trying to pack everything in, and only a 10-15 minutes walk to/from the station.Our chosen seats which gave access to the mooring pontoons of the big super Yacht’s, with live music that filled the gaps between races. We also got to see plenty of action, (Ricardo’s & Schumacher’s crashes, plus others over the weekend), you could also at a distance see some of the pit activity and even the podium presentations, (depending on the seats we had each day). It had the big screen central to our stand (P), so you didn’t miss any action.Thanks again for a totally awesome F1 experience.Regards Dave
Delighted with the whole experience. The hotel was superb in every way, the seats at the Barcelona Grand Prix were exceptional. Will definitely book with you again and recommend friends to do the same.We were kept informed through the weekend with various tel numbers should we run into difficulties during our stay which we didn’t.Anyone can book with you very confidently!
Monaco Historic GP 2022 with Grand Prix Grand Tours.These guys are top notch. You get exactly what is in the package, airport transfers, flights, hotel, Grandstand Tickets (great seats).I can not speak highly enough of the organisational skills these guys have.Thank you
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