Before 2023, if anyone would’ve ever suggested a midfield team to have made the jump to serious podium contenders, the very prospect of this idea would have been laughed at. However, with Aston Martin proving everyone wrong with their AMR23 this year, things might change. Coincidently, another “eternal midfielder” has now set their sights upon conquering a Goliath of Formula 1. Alpine, formerly Renault, has come out with a very strong statement of intent.

The team, since 2017, have not finished higher than fourth in Constructors’ standings. Naturally, they’ve earned a reputation of dealing in the midfield of the Formula 1 grid. They have always been strong, but never strong enough. And with Mercedes struggling, the French team have squarely set a target on the backs of the Silver Arrows.

Alpine makes bold Mercedes claim

For a team like Alpine, the sky’s the limit. Well, at least on paper. They have had a strong core for many years. But with Esteban Ocon and the highly rated Pierre Gasly in their ranks now, they aim to topple the established giants of this sport.

Team boss Otmar Szafnauer said, “We believe that we can fight with them [Mercedes]. We too have a decent upgrade for Baku and then a bit more just a week later in Miami, so we’re pushing the upgrades further. We had a good correlation last year and if this continues and we continue to push the upgrades, we’ll carry that developmental struggle onto those around us as the season progresses,” as quoted by Motorsport-total.com.

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However, such lofty ambitions need to be backed by at least some solid numbers, too.

Big numbers emerge for Alpine’s fight with Mercedes

Alpine has a number of upgrades lined up for the first quarter of the 2023 season. Both Baku and Miami will see the French team reinforce their 2023 challenger with optimized updates. That being said, exactly how much time can the team claw out of these changes?

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Alpine’s technical director, Pat Fry believes, “A lot of the parts we’re hoping to get in Miami are doing a great job at the factory and we’ve managed to get them up front. It’s an average of four or five-tenths in qualifying that we need to find, not to catch Red Bull, but to catch the others, which is really within our reach, we just have to scale them up.”

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Can Alpine make the jump to P3 in the constructors’ championship this time around?