Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors

For young drivers aiming to make that final leap from the top feeder categories to Formula 1, there’s a price to be paid – in sweat. But there is a purpose to all of the exercises conducted on Alpine's pre-season camp, both for the drivers and for the team itself, as OLEG KARPOV discovered

Six racing drivers are playing beach volleyball – and it’s painful to watch. Gabriele Mini, who will spend the 2024 season racing for Prema in Formula 3, wins six points in a row for his team through only his serve. It’s not that his serve is that good – it's because the other team is that bad at intercepting the ball before it hits the sand. This is one of the activities in the Alpine junior team training camp in Tenerife ahead of the racing season.

Mini is teamed up with fellow F3 driver Nikola Tsolov and Formula 2 driver Kush Maini, while on the other side of the net are Victor Martins, Sophia Floersch and Olli Caldwell. But even if this volleyball match looks like madness, there’s methodology in it.