Alpine can almost compete with top teams like Red Bull
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Alpine enjoyed considerable success in 2022. The team had put most of its money and effort into engine development during the previous winter. In the end, the French racing stable still experienced a number of DNFs during the season, mainly due to failures in the Power Unit. Nevertheless, it was a good car, and without these problems, the team could have classified fourth in the championship.
Engine boss Bruno Famin tells Auto, Motor und Sport that there are no excuses for the technical problems: "Of course, we also had problems with parts from suppliers. But that doesn't matter. We have the responsibility to check everything and make sure the engine is stable."
Aerodynamics
Despite this fact, Alpine's efforts as a team did produce good results. The new engine has made the car half a second per lap faster, with performance getting closer and closer to Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari. "The engine is costing us a tenth. Two at best," said Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi.
The reason Alpine is still behind Red Bull has mainly to do with aerodynamic deficits. The CEO does point out that the split turbocharger has provided improvement in this area: "This allowed us to improve the packaging, which led to significantly better aerodynamics. "
A different mindset has also emerged within Alpine. Whereas before the team was really split into two separate camps with the chassis division in England and the engine division in France, the two camps now really think as one. "We [all] only think about the overall performance of the car. All decisions about the car are made so that we score as many points as possible."