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Alpine works on reliability: 'Different profile next year'

Alpine works on reliability: 'Different profile next year'

23-12-2022 13:42 Last update: 13:55
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GPblog.com

Alpine had a fast car in 2022, which eventually took the team to fourth place in the constructors' championship. A great achievement, although it could have been even better, the Alpine was not at all reliable and often had to retire.

The many problems made Fernando Alonso increasingly frustrated throughout the season. He has now left for Aston Martin. Next season, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will drive for Alpine. In the team's factory people are working hard to give them a more reliable car. Among other things, hard work has already been done on the water pump, which broke down regularly last season. A new concept for the water pump has now been developed.

Changes

Internally, the necessary changes have been made to improve Alpine's reliability without losing speed. For instance, validation processes are being improved, especially for parts supplied by external parties. Alpine thus wants to prevent substandard parts from causing problems during racing.

Technical director Matt Harman tells The Race that all problems from 2022 have been identified: "And it’s borne fruit, we now have a competitive package in that area and it allows us to compete. We don’t want to have problems, but we need to get to the root cause of them quickly, and then not have them again. I think, as a team, we’re getting very strong at that. I’m expecting to see a completely different profile to our reliability next year.”