2023 Alpine F1 Team

[Wouter]

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/04/ ... -f1-races/
.

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer is confident the addition of some upgrades will enable it to take the fight to Mercedes in the coming Formula 1 races.

Alpine is planning to debut an extensive upgrade package at the next round in Azerbaijan – plus further new parts a week later in Miami – and Szafnauer is confident the developments will bring the team nearer to its 2023 target of closing on the top three.

Asked if he is wary of Mercedes’ planned major upgrade for Imola in May taking the German team beyond Alpine’s grasp he said:
“No, we think we can fight with them.

“Yeah, we too have a decent-size upgrade coming for Baku and then a little bit more only a week later in Miami, so we continue to push the upgrades out.”

.
Alpine is the only team to bring a major update package to Baku, as they only have one FP to see if they work properly and they still need to get the setup working properly in one hour. Good Luck!

[mwillems]

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/04/ ... -f1-races/
.

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer is confident the addition of some upgrades will enable it to take the fight to Mercedes in the coming Formula 1 races.

Alpine is planning to debut an extensive upgrade package at the next round in Azerbaijan – plus further new parts a week later in Miami – and Szafnauer is confident the developments will bring the team nearer to its 2023 target of closing on the top three.

Asked if he is wary of Mercedes’ planned major upgrade for Imola in May taking the German team beyond Alpine’s grasp he said:
“No, we think we can fight with them.

“Yeah, we too have a decent-size upgrade coming for Baku and then a little bit more only a week later in Miami, so we continue to push the upgrades out.”

.
Alpine is the only team to bring a major update package to Baku, as they only have one FP to see if they work properly and they still need to get the setup working properly in one hour. Good Luck!

Mclaren are doing the same.

[JordanMugen]

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/04/ ... -f1-races/
.

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer is confident the addition of some upgrades will enable it to take the fight to Mercedes in the coming Formula 1 races.

.
Alpine is the only team to bring a major update package to Baku, as they only have one FP to see if they work properly and they still need to get the setup working properly in one hour. Good Luck!

Unless I'm mistaken, these upgrades do not seem to have been very effective?

The Alpine was not able to take the fight to the Mercedes, even though the Mercedes has not had a major upgrade yet?

[SmallSoldier]

https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/04/ ... -f1-races/
.

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer is confident the addition of some upgrades will enable it to take the fight to Mercedes in the coming Formula 1 races.

.
Alpine is the only team to bring a major update package to Baku, as they only have one FP to see if they work properly and they still need to get the setup working properly in one hour. Good Luck!

Unless I'm mistaken, these upgrades do not seem to have been very effective?

Hard to judge them in Baku, not a lot of time to set the car’s properly and take full advantage of the upgrades

[AR3-GP]

They had something like 20 minutes of running in free practice. For their sake, they should hope that's a valid excuse because they'll be in trouble otherwise.

[Otromundo]

I am amazed with the intriguing and brilliant strategy of the team. It is certainly admirable how well they know how to manage the choice of their drivers, the development of their cars and their long-term racing strategy. Everyone should learn from his effectiveness and the modesty of his statements considering his unrivaled brilliant history. I can imagine that after this demonstration in Baku Mercedes is completely terrified. And what to say about RB, Ferrari or Aston Martin! No one will be able to sleep peacefully thinking about the threat that hangs over everyone's future...

Gasly and Ocón have achieved an incredible 8 points in 4 races. Impressive.

[Bisonas]

They had something like 20 minutes of running in free practice. For their sake, they should hope that's a valid excuse because they'll be in trouble otherwise.

Regarding 2023, they where in trouble from the moment Alonso announced his exit last summer.
Their arrogance forbade them to admit it at the time, but deep inside they knew. IMO is going to get worse. Their fight this year IMO is with Mclaren for 5th place. Nothing more, nothing less. Alpine "moral wise" is experiencing the exact opposite from what is happening in AMR this year.

[diffuser]

I am amazed with the intriguing and brilliant strategy of the team. It is certainly admirable how well they know how to manage the choice of their drivers, the development of their cars and their long-term racing strategy. Everyone should learn from his effectiveness and the modesty of his statements considering his unrivaled brilliant history. I can imagine that after this demonstration in Baku Mercedes is completely terrified. And what to say about RB, Ferrari or Aston Martin! No one will be able to sleep peacefully thinking about the threat that hangs over everyone's future...

Gasly and Ocón have achieved an incredible 8 points in 4 races. Impressive.

Think your a bit harsh.

My money is on the accidents in Australia, forced the upgrade choices in Baku. They probably had parts queued for Miami, alot of the bigger parts take atleast 8 weeks to manufacture. With the big accidents in Australia, they were left with a choice of building obsolete parts, or bring forward the new parts and go in blind setup wise. Building the obsolete parts would probably pushed back the upgrades till Imola/Spain....Remember, Monaco is a special track, Miami and Imola tight, time wise.

With the accidents and fire in Baku, they're probably gonna be tight for parts for a while.

[JordanMugen]

Regarding 2023, they where in trouble from the moment Alonso announced his exit last summer.

It was Alpine's own choice to not field Alonso + Piastri but rather Ocon + Gasly. They could have confirmed Alonso + Piastri in a timely manner (before they both left) and paid out Ocon's contract to make space for those two drivers?

[Otromundo]

Hi Diffuser!
I agree with everything you say, they have had very bad luck. And also their latest problems have come from the most unexpected side. But good luck can be sought out just as bad luck can be largely avoided. It is a matter of foresight and above all of not doing strange things. Now they have a big challenge ahead to solve their problems on time. The true greatness of people is revealed by solving great adversities. We will see what happens, hopefully they can achieve it because it would be the best for our sport. It would add more interest to the championship. But they have it quite difficult, now we will see what material they are made of.

[Bisonas]

Regarding 2023, they where in trouble from the moment Alonso announced his exit last summer.

It was Alpine's own choice to not field Alonso + Piastri but rather Ocon + Gasly. They could have confirmed Alonso + Piastri in a timely manner (before they both left) and paid out Ocon's contract to make space for those two drivers?

Ditching Ocon was never in their plans IMO. It was too extreme. It is a French team, they can't just do that.
I agree that probably, in a very brutal and cynical way, letting Ocon go, locking Piastri for 4-5 years and Alonso for 2 would offer better balance and better dynamic within the team that would move them forward more easy.
No offence to Ocon, he is a very good driver, but he is not Alonso. Either performance wise, or "team morale" wise, making the team, the mechanics and the engineers anxious to see the next extra ordinary thing that he would do in a race.
But at the end it was Alpine's own choice to offer Alonso a 1 year deal, and not 2. They knew he was probably their best choice for 2023 and offered him a contract. They just didn't want to commit into a 2 year deal with him. They wanted to have their options open for 2024.
They tried to force him into a 1 year deal. It was a risk that didn't play out for them.
If you see Drive to survive latest season, Szafnauer was almost chasing Alonso to Sign when the rumors got out in the paddock that he met with Lawrence Stroll.
It was too late obviously.

[peewon]

This is Alpine MO. They made very similar statements last year. "We have big upgrades coming and we're looking to challenge at the front." And to be fair, they did bring updates quite frequently but didnt seem to move up in performance relative to the teams ahead of them. Im sure they improved but not much more than other teams did. Thats why they have remained a 4th-5th for god knows how many seasons now. It all sounds like bureaucratic speak. Something has to change in their core philosophy for me to take their claims of being challenger seriously.

[diffuser]

Regarding 2023, they where in trouble from the moment Alonso announced his exit last summer.

It was Alpine's own choice to not field Alonso + Piastri but rather Ocon + Gasly. They could have confirmed Alonso + Piastri in a timely manner (before they both left) and paid out Ocon's contract to make space for those two drivers?

Too early to judge Gasly.

They didn't chose not to keep Alonso, they chose not to give him a 2 year contract. Alonso left cause got one somewhere else. They didn't chose to get rid of Piastri either....not getting into what happened there.

I think replacing Ocon with Piastri would have been a surprise. Piastri is still a bit of a unknown this year.

[diffuser]

This is Alpine MO. They made very similar statements last year. "We have big upgrades coming and we're looking to challenge at the front." And to be fair, they did bring updates quite frequently but didnt seem to move up in performance relative to the teams ahead of them. Im sure they improved but not much more than other teams did. Thats why they have remained a 4th-5th for god knows how many seasons now. It all sounds like bureaucratic speak. Something has to change in their core philosophy for me to take their claims of being challenger seriously.

They had reliability issues last year that held them back.

It wasn't lost on me that Gasly's car, would have been Alonso's, caught fire....

They did say they had a 100 race to compete for race wins...

They've completely revamped the management structure prior to last year. So far, from a car performance point of view, that has ticked up.

[JordanMugen]

They did say they had a 100 race to compete for race wins...

I thought it was 100 races to win the championships?

Unless I'm mistaken it should be around 60 races to go!