Picture Credits BWT Alpine F1 Team
BWT Alpine F1 Team had a consistent F1 pre-season test but as a result of having never chosen to run their car light on fuel nor go looking for a ‘glory run’ to shoot up the timing charts – no one can be certain what their potential is. However, Technical Director of BWT Alpine F1 Team, Matt Harman, did reveal during an open written media session on the final day of the 3-day test that he and his team ‘have a full level of confidence’. As such, it could be the French manufacture’s A523 ensuring Alpine repeat their feat of claiming ‘best of the rest’ in 2023 as opposed to the highly fancied and much talked about Aston Martin AMR23.
With the Bahrain Grand Prix less than a week away, fans and commentators alike are speculating as to what the pecking order will be by the time the chequered flag comes out in Sakhir next Sunday. Due to the fact that years of teams sandbagging in pre-season tests or having a car which specifically suits the circuit of the pre-season test, pundits and fans are all aware that the timing screens don’t really prove much.
Alpine’s 2023 challenger for the upcoming season, the A523, did not hit the headlines as a result of never being run on the softest Pirelli tyre or with the lightest fuel level. Despite this, the potential of Alpine has not gone unnoticed, and Lewis Hamilton has previously highlighted the French racing outfit as being one to watch this year.
BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Technical director, Matt Harman, revealed during Saturday’s open written media session that the team is aware that there is a lot more to come from their A523.
“We have a level of confidence,” said Harman. “Of course we do, because we’re clearly not running the car at its full potential.” Showing an awareness that other teams may also have not revealed their hand, Harman then went on to add “I don’t like to labour on that too much, because I have no idea where the others are running, to be quite honest. We do our analysis, we all know we are looking at each other, and where we are.There’s a massive level of uncertainty in that. But from our point of view things are responding as we expected, our aerodynamics are working as we expected.
“We’ve tried some quite interesting different developments this week, and they’ve proved to be quite positive. So, we’re looking forward to the first race.”
The clear focus at BWT Alpine F1 Team for the pre-season test appears to have been race pace and the team’s boss Otmar Szafnauer also showed satisfaction from the 3 days of running in Bahrain. All this reinforces the idea that things are looking good for the Enstone based team.
“My optimism comes from the fact that our long-run pace looks pretty good,” said Szafnauer. “And we’ve had decent feedback from the drivers saying they’re happy with the car, it’s predictable, there’s no gremlins, snappiness. However, there’s still some work to be done.”
As well as this, Matt Harman announced that the A523 would receive its first upgrade package in time for the first race of the 2023 F1 season.
“There’ll be some visual differences to the first race,” Harman told the media. “We’ve got quite a nice upgrade going on, and hopefully that’ll help with our quest at getting closer to that third position, if not being in that position.
“And then moving forward with what we learned this week to not only improve the car for the first race itself, but also with development we know we want to be aggressive, as we were last year, if not more so.”
2022 brought with it a season long battle between Alpine and McLaren for P4 in the Constructors’ standings. Hearing that Alpine already have loftier ambitions for 2023 is sure to excite any fan of the team and all those hoping for a closely contested season.
Formula One is an ever-developing sport though and it will take more than a few upgrades in a season so it was also encouraging to hear that regular updates will be on the way once again this year.
“It may not be every race, because as the cars are evolving they’re becoming more integrated, and therefore the packages that you need to bring need to be a little bit more widespread.But fundamentally, there will be an attempt to try and develop something every race, even if it’s not just bodywork, and things that you can see visually, but things that you maybe can’t – that give us lap time.
“So yeah, that’s our intent. We were quite proud of that last year, and we’ve got the same resources, we’ve got the same finances, if not slightly better. So it’s just down to us to get through that work.” Matt Harman concluded.
One of Alpine’s recent social media posts features the image of Otmar Szafnauer and the quote “It’s been a very consistent pre-season test in Bahrain, and we are feeling ready for the race to begin next weekend.” What every fan of F1 is also ready for is the prospect of Szafnauer battling his former team, Aston Martin, for P3 in the standings.
The season is almost upon us and maybe Bahrain will give us an indication of what kind of year we have ahead of us. One thing is for sure, the opening race of the 2023 F1 season will be unmissable.
