The F1 stalwart saw first-hand the challenges that Alpine faced as its weekend “snowballed out of control” following a fire on Pierre Gasly’s car on Friday.
At an event where the team had hoped to have a trouble-free run to evaluate a new floor update, it encountered engine swaps, crash repairs, set-up changes, pit exit starts, and then a dramatic pitlane near-miss for Esteban Ocon at the end of the grand prix.
Alpine left the event without scoring any points.
And all of those dramas came on top of the intense new sprint weekend format, with qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday, the sprint race and the main grand prix.
Asked how this weekend compared to the previous sprint weekends, Permane said: “I can’t compare this weekend to any other. Honestly, it’s be …