Alpine comes with updates: 'Won't surprise me if everyone comes with that'

Alpine will come with new updates for the A522 in Imola. According to team boss Otmar Szafnauer, it makes sense to bring updates to the first European race. He therefore expects that Alpine will not be the only team to do so.

Every team with upgrades to Imola

"I won't be surprised if everyone comes to Imola with improvements," Szafnauer said in conversation with NextGen-Auto.com. According to the team boss, it is only logical that teams travel to the first European race with upgrades. After all, the first three races are much further away from the Formula 1 teams' factories.

Alpine can fight with top five

The team boss is very happy with the current speed of the A522 and says that Fernando Alonso's speed in Australia was 'real'. Without the crash the Spaniard had in the latter part of the qualifying session, Szafnauer thinks the car was good enough for a starting spot on the first or second row of the grid.

"Our speed was real, it can't be unreal. Albert Park has characteristics that other circuits also have, so we will also be fast elsewhere," Szafnauer added. For now, that speed doesn't always lead to many points. The French team is in fifth place among the constructors with 22 points. Esteban Ocon had the best result of 2022 so far for the team with a sixth place in Saudi Arabia.