Alpine took a conscious risk: "That was the most important thing for 2022".

With the new rules coming into effect this season, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi has presented a 100-race plan, according to The Race. The team would take 100 races to grow into a position where they regularly win races and compete for championships. For the current year, they are aiming for fourth place in the Constructors' Championship. New team boss of Alpine Otmar Szafnauer evaluates the first half year of his new team and also identifies the main area of concern.

Szafnauer sees a hard-working team making the most of what it has: "However, there’s still some areas where some of the bigger teams have advantages and we have to figure out how to, over the next few years because it doesn’t happen overnight, make sure that we’ve got similar capabilities in those areas." The team boss' thoughts include expanding the technical knowledge of his staff. Szafnauer thinks the speed of developments is very important, especially this year, because with the introduction of the new cars and new rules all teams try to develop their cars as fast as possible. He foresees, if the rules do not change further, that development will slow down at some point and that Alpine will adapt its strategy accordingly.

Engine reliability a worry for Szafnauer

The team boss, who calls himself ultra-competitive, believes that cultural changes are needed in all areas. For example, by carrying out work earlier, you can save time. "And if you do that, if you can take a week or two off of the manufacturing time of the entire car, that gives you two more weeks in the windtunnel. And that two more weeks in the tunnel, sometimes if the learning curve is high, it can get you five or six points [of downforce]. And five or six points is worth two tenths of a second on track. And if you come out with that car that is two tenths of a second quicker for the first race, then you’re in a different spot and it just becomes infectious."

Szafnauer calls the reliability of the engine one of the most important points. He is convinced that there were at least two to four races where they could have scored significantly more points if the reliability had not left much to be desired. But it was a calculated risk, and his team was fully committed to the performance of the engine. This was a conscious decision to freeze engine development, whereby teams are only allowed to make changes that improve reliability.

The team boss's priorities are clear: "So first and foremost it’s about on-track performance. What can we do to get that to the level it needs to be?"