Back in 2021, the Renault Group paved way for one of its subsidiaries, Alpine, to take over their spot on the Formula One grid. And, unsurprisingly, the initial expectations were fairly low albeit with a tinge of hype after the French outfit signed their former hero, Fernando Alonso.

But, after the race weekends in Bahrain and Imola, the excitement took a step back, as Alpine struggled to even challenge the leading mid-fielders, Ferrari and McLaren. This poor run of form persisted till almost the end, but then arrived the fightback; F1 finally got the opportunity to witness a glimpse of what Alpine had to offer.

Ocon and Alonso, together, amassed a total of 43 points out of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi, including a podium on merit. Hence, following the strong end to their debut stint, all eyes have now fallen on the forthcoming season, with the regulation changes set to mix things up.

Renault CEO demands more from Alpine

The Renault Group CEO, Luca de Meo, opened up that Alpine must continue to push forward amidst the crucial 2022 season in the offing. “We cannot continue to be in the middle zone, if I have to sign I will sign to have the best possible 11 on the field,” he said according to Marca.

He furthermore acknowledged that the 2022 Renault engine will embrace more horsepower and could well even be capable of challenging the title contenders, Mercedes and Red Bull.

“We have taken a leap in this, now it remains to stabilize the engine. We are going to change the architecture of next year’s engine: a much finer engine, there will be more horsepower,” he added.

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 Fernando Alonso admits the new engine was necessary

Alonso, too, opined that the new engine was absolutely necessary but admitted his 2022 Alpine challenger requires more enhancement in the department of aerodynamics. “The new engine was absolutely necessary, but something still has to come out of the aerodynamics,” the Spaniard said.

Overall, the work is still not over at the Alpine factory, with the engineers along with the two drivers trying to gain the much-needed performance to challenge for podiums. So, where will Alonso and Ocon stand after the opening race weekend in Bahrain?

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