Szafnauer: 'Ricciardo's performance was painful for McLaren'

Alpine finished fourth in the constructors' championship in 2022, finally higher than arch-rival McLaren. New team boss Otmar Szafnauer tells Auto, Motor und Sport where this success came from but also where Alpine lacked.

The Romanian-American team boss mentions Daniel Ricciardo in the interview. He is referring to the Australian's meagre performance and how this has not helped McLaren. In a midfield so closely matched, "you need two drivers who deliver regularly. If you only have one, it hurts you twice." Where Lando Norris did manage to deal with his equipment, Ricciardo struggled - with negative consequences for McLaren.

Painful element

A painful element for the French racing team itself was the car's reliability, or rather unreliability - the team failed to cross the finishing line no fewer than eight times. Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi says they had hoped to be even closer to the top teams (Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes) using the new technical regulations, but to no avail. "They were quicker in dealing with it. We had not done much with the new car for Corona. They got a head start by doing fundamental research at the time," Rossi said.

This research was mainly successful in the wind tunnel in terms of downforce, something Alpine did not benefit from due to their late reaction to the technical changes. Despite this, the French team at least managed to pass England's McLaren and is now 'the best of the rest'.