Alpine is that friend, ex of another friend, who invites you to his house and repeats thirty-three times that he is better than ever and that the breakup was the right thing to do. The A523 was presented this Thursday in a big way in the City and it looks like a round car, worthy king of the middle class. Also the binomial Ocon-Gasly It seems amply prepared for what awaits the French firm. But it is inevitable that the visit is confused with All Alonso’s photos that adorn the corridors of Enstone, or the R25 that rests in the hall, and Alpine would err on the side of spite if it claimed that it is a more complete team today than it was in 2022.
Before they had a world champion in your lineup, one of three available. But life goes on: Ocon and Gasly are 26 years old and a victory in the World Cup. One settles after facing Fernando and coming off well; the other has another chance at a competitive seat after failing at Red Bull (2019) and being resurrected at Alpha Tauri.
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The new car was unveiled at an evening event for London jet-setters, in style, although with two buts: The real car is packed up and on its way to Bahrain, so this is a “representative” model, they promise. In addition, the Alpine was already seen last Monday in a ‘filming day’ of those that are less and less secret, with professional camera photographs. In any case, There is competitive car wood: they follow the path of 2022 and it is always a good sign not to excessively alter the philosophy of a Formula 1. The sidepods hardly change, the main changes are in the front wing, both suspensions and diffuser. After all, they were the 4th car in 2022 and their weak point was not the aerodynamics or the evolutions, but the unreliability of the engine. As for decoration: it will be pink (by the sponsor BWT) in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia; and will return to blue from Azerbaijan.
“The goal is to be fourth again”
Luca de Meo, CEO of Renault, highlighted the “French and British” nationality of the team and the motoring DNA of the French manufacturer: “I am a fan of Formula 1 and I wanted competition to be the center of our project, of the revitalization of Alpine. It is an important part of our history.” “We have made progress in the first two seasons, I hope we get closer to the ‘top’ and that Esteban and Pierre get a couple of podiums. We’re here for the long haul, solid. I think that we are getting stronger and this winter the work has been good. I’m pretty optimistic.” says the Italian leader.
by his side, Laurent Rossi, Alpine CEO and one of the architects of Alonso’s departure, strip of marketing reports “The value of the brand has doubled in these two years, it’s tremendous. It is a marathon to the top and we gave ourselves five years”. The French engineer talks about objectives and exudes conformity: “The gap with the third is very big so we want to finish fourth again, but with more points, fewer dropouts”. Otmar Szafnauer, the ‘main team’ seems more demanding and ambitious: “We have to evolve faster than any other team. It is what we will do with this A523. AND we have to abandon fewer races”. He is not without reason.
