Laurent Rossi says Alpine can’t use the lack of resource excuse as he compares with Aston Martin who have less than the French F1 outfit.
Having pinned the responsibility on Otmar Szafnauer shoulders, Alpine CEO Rossi reckons the lack of resources can’t be used an excuse by the F1 team for the lack of results. He compares the situation with Aston Martin, who have less than what they have.
Alpine is most certainly a larger F1 outfit with its history than Aston Martin, who only now have got a bigger backing under Lawrence Stroll. The Silverstone-based team has always been punching above its weight even during its Force India days, leave alone as Jordan.
“Enstone has never had as much resources at their disposal for a continuous number of years,” said Rossi on F1 Unlocked interview. “The runway here is 10 years. There will never be a time where the team will be short. Aston have less engineers than us, as far as I know.
“They don’t have their own wind tunnel yet, they don’t have their plant running at the moment. They hyper-charged development by having the right people joining them. It shows that it’s down to creativity and efficiency. It’s the rule of the game, we know that. So no, I’m sorry, I don’t buy the resource excuse,” summed up Rossi.
The Frenchman also did not wish to blame Pierre Gasly and or Esteban Ocon for the performance lack. He feels the senior members at Alpine are not doing the best they can. But despite this public tirade, there is no risk of Alpine shutting shop on F1 just yet.
Rossi says they are realistic about the situation, but they can’t keep giving excuses. “The drivers are doing their share of the job, we owe to them and Alpine a higher level of performance,” he said. “[But for others,] especially when the stakes are so high, you managed to get a nice result (P4 last year), you should be motivated to keep it, you should be fighting for nothing less but fourth.
“And you should therefore avoid every kind of mistake. [For the team’s existence,] no, there is zero risk. There is zero risk. The commitment is extremely strong. We knew there would be bumps along the way. I said it back then when there were good times, like victory in Hungary, fourth in the constructors’ last year.
“We knew there would be bumps. We are having bumps. And there will be plenty of others. Frankly, this is the life of teams – Mercedes and Ferrari have had ups and downs in the past two years, one weekend they are heroes, one weekend they are zeros. We’re operating at a lower level, which is annoying me, but we have the same ebbs and flows.
“We need to steady the course. There is zero doubt we will be here 10 years from now. The team will change, as every other team does, the point is to reinforce the team to get there as fast possible,” summed up Rossi, who has P4 still on his goal board, even though the Top 4 teams currently are secured with Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes being joined by Aston Martin.
“It’s too early to do that – and I don’t want to give people the comfort,” said Rossi, when asked about their goals and if P4 is really possible. “I don’t enter a competition and reset my objective because it’s easier. The team managed to get fourth. They have the means to get fourth, more so than others. I want them to be fourth. If they don’t, it’s going to be a failure.
“If they fail by giving 500% best and turning this ship around, there will be extenuating circumstances and it bodes well for the future. If not, it’s the rule of business, there’s going to be consequences. And I won’t wait until the end of the year. The trajectory is not good. We need to fix the mindset of the team ASAP,” summed up Rossi.
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Here’s F1 bosses on new teams joining
Here’s Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon on Miami fightback
Here’s Laurent Rossi noting that the buck stops with Otmar Szafnauer
Here’s Laurent Rossi on lack of execution from Alpine