Alpine CEO crystal clear: 'I told that the team many times'

Alpine experienced an excellent season. Where Esteban Ocon finished in eleventh place, Fernando Alonso was one position above him. It ensured that the French racing stable secured fifth place in the constructors' championship. This brought satisfaction to Laurent Rossi.

Alpine's CEO knew at the beginning of the season that the team was in for a tough year. During the race year, it proved impossible to compete with Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and McLaren, so Alpine knew that fifth place was the highest they could achieve. It pleases Rossi that this eventually worked out.

"Obviously if we would have had a faster car I would have been a bit happier," he stressed in conversation with RACER. "It’s the end of an era for this car and we learned a lot of things, we’ve put things together. I told the team many times that it’s the sum of all details that matter, and even if the car is not fast the rest has to really be top quality."

Rossi points to next season, when new regulations apply. It seems that Alpine can then get a lot closer to the bigger teams, although it remains to be seen whether it can completely close the gap. In 2022, Ocon and Alonso will once again be part of the team.