Photo: Alpine F1 Team
Alpine F1 Team is looking quite good at the moment. Some would argue they are the fourth-fastest team on the grid and time will tell whether McLaren will be able to do anything about that. However, Fernando Alonso believes his team’s long-term ambitions should outweigh this year’s results.
This is sort of a general conundrum though – whether teams should focus their resources on developing this year’s car or shift their attention to next year’s challengers.
According to the Spaniard, it would be a mistake for Alpine to throw too much money at the current A522 race car, reports Motorsport, and used Mercedes as an example of what can happen when it comes to development.
“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy for us,” he said. “They [Mercedes] have a huge organization and we knew that they will come back sooner or later. For us, it’s more a medium/long-term program when we try to improve as much as they did. So, I think, for us, it’s a matter of starting next year’s car soon enough that we don’t compromise the next project.”
He goes on to say: “The big teams, they can start next year’s car and at the same time, in parallel, keep improving this year’s car. For other teams, this is more of a challenge.”
Not to contradict him in any way, but Alpine isn’t exactly a small team. They have massive resources compared to most other midfield outfits.
Either way, they’ve been good this year and should continue to put together strong results if they can improve on certain minor issues, such as cornering performance.
“I think we feel a little bit down on some corners,” said Alonso. “I will say slow speed corners is not our strength at the moment.”
“[We need] a little bit of everything. I don’t think that we have a weak point in the car that we need to solve, but there are areas to improve everywhere.”
According to the Spaniard, it would be a mistake for Alpine to throw too much money at the current A522 race car, reports Motorsport, and used Mercedes as an example of what can happen when it comes to development.
“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy for us,” he said. “They [Mercedes] have a huge organization and we knew that they will come back sooner or later. For us, it’s more a medium/long-term program when we try to improve as much as they did. So, I think, for us, it’s a matter of starting next year’s car soon enough that we don’t compromise the next project.”
He goes on to say: “The big teams, they can start next year’s car and at the same time, in parallel, keep improving this year’s car. For other teams, this is more of a challenge.”
Not to contradict him in any way, but Alpine isn’t exactly a small team. They have massive resources compared to most other midfield outfits.
Either way, they’ve been good this year and should continue to put together strong results if they can improve on certain minor issues, such as cornering performance.
“I think we feel a little bit down on some corners,” said Alonso. “I will say slow speed corners is not our strength at the moment.”
“[We need] a little bit of everything. I don’t think that we have a weak point in the car that we need to solve, but there are areas to improve everywhere.”
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