Otmar Szafnauer is cautiously optimistic that Alpine can fight Mercedes in F1 2023 with the updates they have in store.
There’s a difference of 48 points between Mercedes and Alpine after three races in F1 2023, but the latter are hoping to catch the former in the middle part of the year. The French outfit hasn’t looked like beaters so far apart from odd occasions.
They were in for good points in Australia where the gap wouldn’t have been 48, but the crash for Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon thwarted any chances. Despite that, Szafnauer is of the view that Alpine can still catch and fight with Mercedes for the rest of 2023.
They have updates lined-up already with the first coming in Baku and they are banking on quick development in the catch-up. But they are cautious as well as they don’t know what the plans are for Mercedes, who are also looking to bounce back with their own changes.
“We’re going to develop at the highest rate possible for our team,” said Szafnauer. “And it’s really hard to know what they will bring. Last year, if I look back, I think our development rate was pretty good. And if we can keep up the same this year, I think we should, over the year, get closer. Really hard to know.
“As you know, it’s a relative game. I know what we’ve got coming. What I don’t know is what they have coming. We think we can fight with them. As I said, we too have a decent-size upgrade coming for Baku and then a little bit more only a week later in Miami, so we continue to push the upgrades out.
“I mean, the important thing is that they all work when we put them on the car and we have good correlation with our simulation tools. We had good correlation last year and if that continues and if we continue to push the upgrades, we’ll take that development fight over the season to the others around us,” summed up Alpine chief.
Here’s Esteban Ocon not thinking of being de facto leader
Here’s Otmar Szafnauer on Pierre Gasly needing couple more races
Here’s the Alpine pair on race-ending collision
