Alpine could also be F1’s finest ‘worst staff’ of all time

No person ever desires the picket spoon within the System 1 world championship, for legitimate causes – an important lack of prize cash, and the mere incentive to do properly – however should you’re ever going to return final then Alpine actually is doing it proper.

The Enstone-based outfit has already scored 20 factors within the 2025 season, by far probably the most a last-placed staff has ever collected – and that’s simply over 14 grands prix this yr.

After all, the factors system has advanced over time, however Alpine’s 20 factors roughly matches Toro Rosso’s eight in 2009 – besides that was over a 17-race marketing campaign.

Again then, Toro Rosso’s factors solely got here from decrease top-eight finishes by Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastien Buemi, however with the present system, the staff would have scored 29 factors that yr – with the caveat of extra attritional races, which made it simpler for a weak staff to often end within the prime 10.

One other attention-grabbing metric is qualifying efficiency, with Toro Rosso making it out of Q1 14 occasions out of 34 doable. Alpine at present is on 18/34, which incorporates sprints – in any other case 16/28 over common qualifying periods.

Alpine’s scenario can be totally different as a result of its second automotive has been vastly underperforming by the hands of Jack Doohan and Franco Colapinto, failing to document a single prime 12 on Sundays. This implies Pierre Gasly has single-handedly scored Alpine’s 20 factors, together with his finest outcome sixth at Silverstone, so the staff clearly has potential for a much bigger haul. Nonetheless, not ending final can be a tall order, with Haas at present 15 factors up.

Coincidentally, Haas recorded the second-biggest tally (not bearing in mind totally different factors techniques) with 12 factors over the 22-event 2023 season – 9 from Nico Hulkenberg and three from Kevin Magnussen, together with seventh place for the German in Melbourne. By way of qualifying efficiency, this translated to 34/56 qualifying periods within the prime 15 (27/44 with out sprints).

Haas did have highlights comparable to Hulkenberg qualifying second in Canada and fourth for the Austrian GP dash, outperforming Gasly’s excessive of fifth in Bahrain this yr and Toro Rosso’s Buemi qualifying sixth for the 2009 Brazilian GP.

Haas automobiles reached (S)Q3 no fewer than 14 occasions in 2023, however struggled to transform it into Sunday outcomes. A high-profile occasion was Hulkenberg dropping from second to seventh within the early levels of the Canadian GP earlier than an premature security automotive intervention scuppered his possibilities of a factors end.

Lastly, one other sturdy contender for ‘finest worst season’ can be Minardi in 2005 – a minimum of on paper. The staff scored seven factors, greater than the 5 it collected within the previous 10 years, with fifth and sixth within the notorious six-car United States Grand Prix.

Patrick Friesacher, Minardi PS05

Photograph by: Sutton Photos

Nonetheless, the Italian squad was a real backmarker that yr, as proven by its highest qualifying results of thirteenth for Patrick Friesacher in Monaco and Christijan Albers in Japan, whereas their finest end (aside from Indianapolis) was twelfth by Friesacher in Bahrain and Albers in Belgium.

General, there have been 13 cases of a last-placed staff scoring factors in F1 historical past, throughout 9 totally different groups; the primary incidence was Arrows accumulating two factors in 2002, courtesy of Heinz-Harald Frentzen with a brace of sixth locations.

Different squads embody Minardi (2004, ’05), Spyker (2007), Toro Rosso (2009), Manor (2016), Sauber (2017, ’24), Williams (2018, ’19, ’22), Haas (2023) and at present Alpine.

Further reporting by Norman Fischer