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Vexation at Alpine as challenging British Grand Prix gets even tougher vexation,at,alpine,as,challenging,british,grand,prix,gets,even,tougher,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one

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Despite a recent run of good form, Alpine knew things would be a little tougher at this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

The team installed five new components on Pierre Gasly’s A524 ahead of the weekend, and with each component above the team’s allotment for the season, a ten-place grid penalty was added. Technically, Gasly was hit with a 50-place grid penalty for this weekend’s race, meaning he will start at the back of the grid in tomorrow’s main event.

That meant that if the team was going to extend their active streak of four straight races with at least a point, Esteban Ocon would likely have to carry the banner. But that task got tougher on Saturday as Ocon failed to advance out of Q1 during qualifying, and will start the British Grand Prix in P18.

Just two spots ahead, and directly in front of, Gasly.

Ocon’s run in Q1 appears to have been undone by some miscommunication within the team right at the end of the first segment of qualifying. “I asked the team, you know, three times ‘[w]e still pushing?’

The team told me ‘no, we took the checkered flag,” said Ocon to Lawrence Barretto immediately after qualifying.”We clearly took the wrong decisions every time.”

Ocon continued his description of the weekend in the team’s post-session report.

“It was a complicated session with the drying track and stoppage for the red flag, but ultimately, we did not optimise our Qualifying today,” said Ocon. “We did not take the right decisions at the right time, and we seemed to be offset compared to the others, and not pushing when the track was probably at its best. Then there was some confusion at the end where I thought we had one more push lap and I was told to abort the lap.

“In the end, it is a frustrating day that we did not maximise and one that we need to review. It will be a difficult race tomorrow given our starting position. We will try our best to move forward, especially if the weather stays like it is with changeable conditions.”

On the other side of the garage Gasly indicated that given the penalty, his weekend truly starts tomorrow. Because of the grid drop he was facing he just made one swing around the track on the softs because the team did not want to take any unnecessary risks on Saturday, given there was no way of improving his starting position for Sunday.

“We knew ahead of the weekend we were going to start the race from P20, as we had to take a penalty eventually and it is good that we get it out of the way,” said Gasly in Alpine’s post-session report. “It was not a very exciting session for me – I did a single lap on Softs and with the track conditions improving we did not want to take any risks today.

“For me, the weekend will start tomorrow, we will attack where we can and hopefully be able to fight our way back to the top ten and continue our positive streak over the past couple of races. But we also know the conditions here are very tricky and we have seen how easy it is to get off track here,” added Gasly. “At the same time, those conditions could make the race tomorrow quite interesting, and it could help us fight our way back and gain positions.”

Bruno Famin, the Alpine Team Principal, outlined that the team was just not good enough on Saturday from an “operational” standpoint, but that there may be opportunities on Sunday.

“We have not been good enough today from an operational standpoint,” said Famin in the team’s post-qualifying report. “With the changeable conditions it was crucial to push and set a time when the track was at its best and we missed the optimum window. We knew with Pierre there was little to gain today with the grid penalties for tomorrow, so we did not take any unnecessary risks.

“For Esteban, the timing was tight at the end for the [checkered] flag, and we missed the opportunity to improve on his time. We will go away and review what happened and try to avoid similar scenarios happening in [the] future. It will be a long race tomorrow and we will review how best to approach the race from our starting position and give ourselves a chance of progressing through the field.”

The weather could play a factor on Sunday, giving Ocon and Gasly a chance to move up in the field. However, it still looks like Alpine will need something special at the British Grand Prix to extend their run of points results.

5 NFL coaches who deserve to be on the hot seat before the 2024 season even starts nfl,coaches,who,deserve,to,be,on,the,hot,seat,before,the,season,even,starts,sbnation,com,front-page,nfl,dot-com-grid-coverage

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The 2024 NFL season is nearly upon us, and it’s shaping up to be an exciting one. While we’re all looking ahead to how our teams will look and hopefully improve this year, it’s important to remember one of the constants of the NFL: While some teams will get better, others will regress. Not everyone will be taking the anticipated step forward, and some will be taking a step back.

On that note, it’s a good opportunity to check in on some of the most volatile coaching situations in the NFL. I delved through the 32 head coaches to come up with my top-five hottest seats in the league heading into 2024. Many of these names won’t be terribly surprising, as several were considered candidates to be let go this offseason, but a couple were a little more challenging than others.

Mike McCarthy

I think I speak for most NFL fans when I say that we were shocked when Mike McCarthy wasn’t fired after the Dallas Cowboys’ most recent playoff defeat. He’s back for 2024, coming off the loss of another key coordinator in Dan Quinn and a thoroughly disappointing offseason marred by a failure to take action on quarterback Dak Prescott’s contract. To put it simply, the Cowboys have been suspiciously lax in addressing veteran departures and the multiple holes on the roster.

While I think the draft class has the potential to be good, it’s a tough assignment for any rookie offensive lineman to come in and play right away. Tyler Guyton and Cooper Beebe could be thrust into the spotlight immediately to plug holes, and I’m not sure that will produce great results — at least, not right away. The receiving corps is incredibly thin after CeeDee Lamb, and the lack of urgency to address running back led to an uninspiring reunion with late-career Ezekiel Elliott.

I’m not sure any of these things are explicitly McCarthy’s fault, but we all know who will get the blame if Dallas regresses in 2024.

Matt Eberflus

Matt Eberflus is in a strange situation with the Chicago Bears. In many ways, it would’ve made sense for the Bears to make a clean break and start fresh with a new head coach in 2024. The team is very much in the midst of what feels like a perpetually ongoing rebuild, and Eberflus’ abysmal 10-24 record through two seasons doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. At the same time, the roster has been far from competitive and Eberflus can argue that he didn’t get any say in the previous quarterback decision. Sure, fair enough.

All that being said, expectations will be through the roof for Chicago in 2024 thanks to an aggressive offseason headlined by the addition of No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams at quarterback. If things don’t take off quite as fast as hoped and the Bears are once again picking near the top of the NFL Draft, the pitchforks will come out — and Eberflus will be the one on the pointy end.

Dennis Allen

Have you noticed a theme so far? The first three coaches on this list, Dennis Allen included, are all guys who were in danger of being fired at the end of the 2023 season. Allen has been a largely uninspiring coach for the New Orleans Saints, clawing his way to an under-.500 record over two seasons despite possessing one of the oldest and most expensive rosters in the NFL and playing in a division that has been pretty much wide open for the taking.

The expensive acquisition of Derek Carr was supposed to be the necessary move to get the Saints back on top in the NFC South, but the team ultimately fell short once again. Allen likely has a Week 18 Falcons collapse to thank for keeping his job heading into 2024, but things are looking considerably more dire for the Saints this season. The roster has continued to age and thin out thanks to years of cap shenanigans. New Orleans has an even tougher path to the playoffs this season, and three straight misses would almost certainly mean the end for Allen.

Robert Saleh

It seems like the signing of Aaron Rodgers, and his subsequent injury, probably saved Robert Saleh’s job in 2023. Perhaps Rodgers really would have lifted the New York Jets to playoff contention and renewed faith in Saleh’s leadership, but his injury essentially gave Saleh a free pass. While it’s clear Saleh is a great defensive mind and he’s put together a top unit in New York over the past two seasons, the offense has continuously held the team back.

Saleh is an abysmal 18-33 over his three seasons, and you’d expect pretty much any other coach to be shown the door in that situation. That means that 2024 is probably “playoffs or bust” time for both Saleh and the entire regime in New York. The Jets will obviously be better with a healthy Aaron Rodgers, but can they really compete with the top contenders in the AFC? Are they a better team than the Chiefs, Ravens, Bills, or Texans? Can Aaron Rodgers actually stay healthy? Will he retire mid-season to do ayahuasca and go on darkness retreats? A playoff berth alone may not be enough to save Saleh’s job given the expectations around the team.

Brian Daboll

It’s pretty unusual to see a coach coming off an AP Coach of Year award just two seasons prior entering the season on the hot seat, but the New York Giants are an unusual team. Brian Daboll worked magic in New York to get the team to a 9-7-1 record, playoff berth, and upset victory over the Vikings in 2022, but things completely fell apart in 2023. The Giants were among the league’s worst offenses and were near the bottom defensively as well, with Daniel Jones performing poorly coming off his extension before spending the majority of the season on IR.

New York is in a difficult spot heading into 2024, as the team chose to pass on a quarterback upgrade for another huge need, a wide receiver upgrade. That might have been the best choice for the team, but it probably wasn’t the best choice for Daboll’s job security. I still believe Daboll is a good coach and wouldn’t be shocked if he bounces back this season, but he’ll have to pull out some more of that 2022 magic to overtake the Eagles or Cowboys in the playoff race.