Red Bull appear to assist RIVALS in odd Bahrain move

Red Bull engineers were pictured appearing to help out a rival Formula 1 team - or, at least, a non-RB team - at the Bahrain Grand Prix, since Alpine can't be called 'rivals' of the reigning champions in any meaningful way this year.

Esteban Ocon's car was called over to the weighbridge during the first part of qualifying on Friday, with his Alpine picked out for a random check.

While the weighing took place, with Esteban Ocon in the car, Red Bull's engineers appeared to cool the car down, using fans that are seen being used to cool down both Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen's car in the Red Bull garage.

While this sportsmanlike behaviour is good to see, it does represent a fairly unusual move for the engineers to be in the right place at the right time to lend Alpine a hand.

READ MORE: F1 Results Today: Bahrain GP times - Verstappen blows rivals away in DESTRUCTIVE win

Alpine miserably slow in Bahrain

It may well be that the world champions felt a little sorry for the Enstone-based team, whose cars looked to be the slowest of all teams in Bahrain, qualifying 19th and 20th for Saturday's race.

Alpine driver Ocon had already confessed that the 2024 car looked 'slow' before it was even unveiled, and similar brutal statements have followed, suggesting the team were not in a good place after pre-season testing.

That was confirmed once again in the race on Saturday, the team finishing 17th and 18th - last out of any drivers who didn't suffer a technical issue (Valtteri Bottas' 50-second pit stop, Logan Sargeant's steering wheel malfunction).

El Alpine de Ocon tuvo algún problema al pasar por la báscula y los mecánicos de Red Bull le apoyaron ventilando sus frenos. pic.twitter.com/RaAX9fcdWU

— 🏁【 Alerta F1 】🏁 (@AlertaF1) March 1, 2024

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