Alpine team boss: 'It underlines what a great job has been done'

Alpine is having a pretty good start to the season. Esteban Ocon managed to score points in the first two races and the team is fourth in the championship. Fernando Alonso scored points in Bahrain, but crashed out in Saudi Arabia. According to Otmar Szafnauer, it all could have been much worse.

Totally new racing cars

During the first race of the season in Bahrain, three drivers dropped out; in Saudi Arabia, only thirteen drivers finished. Not surprising when you consider that the Formula 1 teams are driving completely new cars, Szafnauer informed Speedweek.com. Due to the new regulations, the teams took almost no parts with them from 2021 that had proven themselves in terms of durability.

The rules surrounding the engines also play a role in the relatively high failure rate, says the new Alpine team boss. "The development is frozen. Therefore, the engine manufacturers have tried to make as many improvements as possible before then." As of March 1, teams are allowed to change virtually nothing on the engine. Until September 1, 2022, they are still allowed to change the specifications of the control electronics, the energy storage (battery) and the MGU-K (engine generator).

Reliability could be much worse

So in that respect, reliability is not too bad, is the team boss who came over from Aston Martin. "It could be much worse. I was surprised, especially in Bahrain, how few problems there were." In Bahrain, it was only Red Bull-engined cars that experienced problems. Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly all dropped out due to engine-related problems.

Szafnauer therefore believes that the teams have done a great job leading up to this season. "Many fans remember the days when we came to the first race and saw six or eight cars take the checkered flag in the nick of time. Today we have a completely different level of reliability."