Alpine has been undergoing a major re-organisation process spearheaded by the team's CEO Laurent Rossi, which began on January 13.
Follow Us
Despite the recent turmoil at Alpine, Fernando Alonso feels the French Formula One team is better positioned to compete in the 2022 season. Alpine has been undergoing a major re-organisation process spearheaded by the team’s CEO Laurent Rossi, which began on January 13 with the departure of Executive Director Marcin Budkowski, followed by the high-profile departure of team non-executive director of the board and advisor Alain Prost.
The former four-time World Champion did not resign quietly, however, expressing his displeasure with the manner in which his departure was publicised, as well as the reasons for his leaving, accusing Rossi of driving him out in order to be in the spotlight on his own. Former Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has been connected with a role with Alpine, with rumours claiming he will join the Enstone-based team and bring sponsor BWT with him.
Despite the changes, Alonso believes Alpine is in better shape now than it was at the outset of the 2021 Formula One season.
“We are still not on top of all the problems, but everyone will have a different opinion,” he told motorsport.com. “Obviously with experience working for different teams, I could see some things that we were weak, other areas we were very strong. You try always to make the team stronger and stronger, and more prepared into 2022. I think we are in better shape now than what we were in March, in Bahrain, but still a few things I’m sure that we’ll have to fix. I think we need for sure to close the gap on the engine, that’s why there is this new project, and also we need to close the gap on the aero performance. It’s difficult to know what is the gap, so at the moment there are only hopes but I understand that these hopes are for everybody. It’s not only to us, and it’s a completely unknown territory what we will find [this] year,” the Spaniard added.
Read More – I see my age as an advantage, says two-time world champion Fernando Alonso
Alonso, who won two titles in 2005 and 2006 under the Renault F1 banner, believes that the new rules, which include a budget cap, have removed any excuses for the French team not to perform, since they are now on a more even playing field with the larger teams in terms of spending.
“I’m optimistic we have the right resources, we have the commitment from Luca de Meo, from Laurent Rossi, all our management they are committed to Formula 1 ,” he claimed.
“The budget cap should help because there is no unlimited budget for the top teams. Now it’s more or less the same budget for everybody and it’s up to us to do a good car. If we don’t do it, we will learn from our mistakes. But there are no more ‘we have less budget’ or ‘we have less resources’ or ‘they are using two wind tunnels’. There are not any more of those things. So, it’s up to us,” Alonso concluded.
