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Despite Huge Gasly-Ocon Crash Bill, Alpine Boss Unexpectedly Declares War Against Lewis Hamilton & Co. In Search of F1 Supremacy

Published 04/28/2023, 5:45 AM EDT

Bagging just eight points from the first three rounds, Alpine stands sixth in the championship, even behind McLaren. Now, for McLaren, things are worse than ever, whereas, aspiration and hope are running high at Alpine. The Otmar Szafnauer-led squad, which raked up a huge bill following its drivers’ crash in the dramatic showdown in Australia, is optimistic of largely turning things around going to Baku after the break.

Alpine, which targeted fourth place and a reduced deficit to last season’s P3 finisher Mercedes, is now confident of challenging the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. Keeping its distance from Red Bull, Alpine believes its development has been solid and will be performing well enough to gain a couple of tenths in the coming weekends.

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Targeting the front of the grid, more specifically P2 in the championship, Otmar is preparing his team for the launch ahead against Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, and Fernando Alonso and not just McLaren. While speaking at the F1 Nation podcast, he said, “For me, if you’re fighting for fourth this year, you’re also fighting for second. It’s all that close, we have to be able to fight with Mercedes, Aston and Ferrari.”

“I think that group of three teams is fighting for second place and if we can get what I said, three-tenths or four-tenths, then we’ll be in that fight as well. That’s our goal, there have only been three races and there are still 20 to go.”

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Otmar said all this while confessing that the gap with Red Bull increased. But he also pointed out the reduced deficit between Ferrari and Mercedes, which we are yet to see on the track.

Aggressive development ahead for Alpine

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Otmar has made huge promises. From the team’s end, it seems only an optimized package has been lacking in an otherwise great car. However, to justify the lack of performance and find more speed, the team has aggressive development planned ahead.

As quoted by RacingNews365, the team’s technical director, Matt Harman, said, “We are bringing a new floor to Baku, amongst some other aerodynamic and mechanical items. We then have a further development at the following race in Miami and something further for Imola after that.”

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Certainly, the team has the right drivers to deliver. Both of them have been the underdog winners of their sole career GP wins. The team needs to back them up, and the result will be ready for them.

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Written by:

Manan Goel is an F1 writer at EssentiallySports, who graduated in literature from the University of Delhi before discovering his passion for the world of Formula 1. With over 400 published articles, his writing reflects his in-depth knowledge of the sport and his ability to provide unique insights. Manan's passion for F1 began when he first saw Sebastian Vettel's exhilarating drives with Red Bull.

Edited by:

Varunkumaar Chelladurai

Despite Huge Gasly-Ocon Crash Bill, Alpine Boss Unexpectedly Declares War Against Lewis Hamilton & Co. In Search of F1 Supremacy

Aggressive development ahead for Alpine

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