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Alpine pulls update forward: "Was planned for Miami"
- GPblog.com
The Alpine team will be looking forward to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. In Australia, the team looked extremely competitive, although many points were not scored due to Fernando Alonso's bad luck. Alan Permane, sporting director of the team, says that his formation will introduce a new floor in Italy.
In the podcast F1 Nation Permane said that Alpine will be on the grid in a little over a week with a major upgrade. "We will have a nice upgrade in Imola. We have a new floor; I think that will only be for one car at the moment. It was planned for Miami, and we managed to pull it forward for Imola, so I'm very confident."
Reliability a problem
Permane is not confirming whether Fernando Alonso or Esteban Ocon will get the upgrade on the circuit in Imola. In any case, they still need to solve the poor reliability. Alonso used all three of his engines this season. Often it was precautionary when all power sources was replaced, but it is far from ideal.
It already cost team boss Otmar Szafnauer's team a lot of points in 2022. In Saudi Arabia, Alonso crashed out from eighth position on lap 36 and in qualifying at Albert Park, Alonso looked set for a top-four spot during Q3, but then the hydraulics failed. He started from P10 on the hard tire, but due to unfortunate safety car timing he finished seventeenth and last.