Alpine 'chaotic' prediction materialises with heavy losses in Racing Bulls 'war'

Ahead of the British Grand Prix, Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen warned it would only take a "chaotic race" for his team's 13-point advantage over Racing Bulls in the constructors' standings to be wiped out.

The British engineer had a clear message for his Enstone-based squad: it could not relax or take "anything for granted" in its "development war" with the Red Bull-owned outfit.

In the fight for fifth, Alpine and Racing Bulls have been locked in a tight battle all season, but Alpine had eked out a small advantage.

But when asked whether it would be enough of a buffer to sustain his team for the rest of the campaign, Nielsen was adamant it would not be — and he has already been proven correct.

"No. We’re not even halfway through, are we? What is it? Ten, 11, 12 races left? No, there’s no way we can relax," the 62-year-old told media, including RacingNews365, ahead of the British Grand Prix.

"It only takes a small, sort of chaotic race — we’ve had some of those already — and if Racing Bulls are ahead of us, they can collect big."

"I think the gap in points is something like 13, so that could change in a weekend. So no, we’re a long way from relaxing, and we’re in a development war with them, with Racing Bulls."

Silverstone delivers chaos

And it did change, drastically and rapidly, over the final 10 laps or so at Silverstone.

Liam Lawson had already closed the deficit by a point with eighth place in the sprint, reducing Alpine's lead to 12 points.

As the race entered its closing stages, Racing Bulls were set to score six points, through Lawson in eighth and Arvid Lindblad just behind in ninth.

But then, on Lap 41, Kimi Antonelli encountered his issues with the left-front wheel shield, which dropped him down to the lower reaches of the points — and, eventually, saw him awarded a track limits penalty.

The mechanical problem and subsequent punishment, combined with Max Verstappen's safety car-inducing crash on Lap 48, brought Alpine's two drivers, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, into the fold.

But it had also elevated Lawson and Lindblad to sixth and seventh, and with it, a further eight points.

The saving grace for Alpine, with the field bunched up as the 52-lap race ended without resumption, and the Mercedes dropping from ninth to outside the points, was Colapinto being bumped up to ninth and tenth, scoring a combined three points, which has kept their team ahead of Racing Bulls by just a single point at this stage of the year, 60 to 59.

Whilst proven right, it is somewhat of a Pyrrhic victory for Nielsen, who is also aware of the looming threat from further down the pecking order.

"I keep hearing stories that some of the other teams — Aston Martin, Williams — are also bringing big upgrades, so we’ll see," he added. "There’s an awful long way to go, and we’re not taking anything for granted."