On paper, Alpine seemed to have all the ingredients necessary to succeed in 2023.
The French team entered the season fresh off a P4 finish in the Constructors’ Championship and ready to reach new heights, having recently signed ex-Red Bull affiliated driver Pierre Gasly to complete their young, promising lineup.
Earlier in the season, the team had set itself a goal of closing the gap to the top four, with team boss Otmar Szafnauer claiming that the likes of Mercedes are well within their reach.
But where Aston Martin leapt forward in terms of performance, Alpine seemed to stumble a few steps back.
Photo credit: BWT Alpine F1 Team
The Enstone based outfit currently sits sixth in the Constructors’ standings, having scored a total of 14 points in the first five rounds. While things initially seemed to be under control, with the team having a strong showing in Saudi Arabia, their campaign soon started to unravel: an unfortunate end to the Australian GP saw newly-minted teammates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon come together, resulting in a double DNF. This was followed by a drama-filled weekend in Azerbaijan that included engine fires, crash repairs, mechanical issues, and a pitlane start for Ocon. Alpine left Baku frustrated and empty-handed.
Although the team managed to bag points in Miami, courtesy of a P8 and P9 finish for Gasly and Ocon respectively, it would appear that Alpine CEO, Laurent Rossi, is slowly running out of patience.
“We started the season behind development targets,” Rossi told the media during the Miami GP weekend. “We were lacking performance compared to where we wanted to be to cement P4. We have made a lot of mistakes, too many mistakes, over the weekend. (…)
“It makes for a difficult year ahead. The season is still young. I don’t want to give up, but a couple of things need to change. We need to continue reinforcing the team to get the performance back.
“It starts with owning up to your mistakes, to not repeat the mistakes, to learn from your mistakes. It’s okay to make mistakes, it’s not okay to make them twice because it means you didn’t learn. This year, there is a lot of excuses, which lead to poor performance and a lack of operational excellence.
“I need to tackle this, I need the right people to tackle this. I need the team to be aware they need to do that as it’s not up to me; it’s up to them, they have to do it. It’s their responsibility. I hope they make the same diagnosis. I will make it clear to them that this is the diagnosis and they need to fix that.”
Rossi went on to warn of impending
The Frenchman added that he doesn’t believe the driver lineup is to blame. “They are doing their share of the job, we owe to them and Alpine a higher level of performance.”
Rossi also spoke about his expectations regarding Alpine’s team principal, Otmar Szafnauer: “Otmar was brought in to steer the team, through the season and the next seasons towards the objectives that we have, which is to constantly make progress (…) and to get to the podiums and therefore, this is his mission to turn this team around and bring it to the performance that we want.
“We had a team that performed reasonably well last year, got the fourth position which is the best improvement we had in a long time. It showed a lot of promise. (…) Yes, it is Otmar and the rest of his team as Otmar alone doesn’t do everything, but the buck stops with Otmar. It’s Otmar’s responsibility, yes.”
Szafnauer has since addressed Rossi’s comments, insisting that the team is aware of its goals—as well as its issues.
“Reading something like that in the paper puts no more pressure [on the team]. Everyone wants to do well here, they’re very well experienced technicians, engineers, at the highest level, and we put pressure on ourselves. We just have to fix it.”
“All we can do is, when we have issues like Baku, is find and understand the root cause of them and have the process and people in place such that it doesn’t happen again,” he added.
Alpine’s drivers have also spoken about the situation, reiterating that they are focusing on doing their best with the tools available to them.
“I’m focusing on my racing,” Ocon said. “My job is to deliver on track and get the maximum out of the car.”
“It’s a constant conversation with Laurent and Luca [de Meo] and everyone in the team,” Gasly added. “I think we are all disappointed with the start in the first four races but we didn’t manage to capitalise on all the opportunities we had and that is why I think today [in Miami] it’s good to score with both cars.
“We obviously want more and be fighting with Mercedes and Ferrari and the guys ahead of us and I think we’re not too far from that.”
