Alpine’s second season in Formula 1 began today with the official presentation of the A522, the ground-effect single-seater with which Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon will have to try to improve the fifth place in the Constructors obtained by the French manufacturer in 2021.
Last year Alpine achieved an unexpected victory at the end of an extremely chaotic Hungarian GP thanks to Esteban Ocon, who was thus able to celebrate his first personal success in Formula 1, and the transalpine team managed to return to the podium again in Qatar thanks to a masterful race led by Fernando Alonso.
What is about to begin will be a season full of expectations for the French team which over the winter faced a managerial revolution with the departure of Alain Prost and Marcin Budkowsky and the entry of Otmar Szafnauer into the team.
On the sidelines of today’s presentation, the CEO of Alpine, Laurent Rossi, spoke about the expectations for the championship that will start in just under a month and the progress that the team will necessarily have to make.
“2022 will be an exciting year for Alpine,” said Rossi. “We entered the sport in 2021 with a mission: to lay the foundations for this season in view of the huge regulatory change that represents enormous potential for mid-table teams like ours.”
Alpine A522
Photo by: Alpine
“We learned a lot: what worked for us and what didn’t; what we needed to improve and what to consolidate. From a technical point of view we have strengthened our team with Matt Harman who now becomes technical director and Pat Fry who has taken on the role of Chief Technical Officer. This will allow us to have a more agile approach when developments continue in the first part of the season ”.
“We have also simplified the structure in Viry with the arrival of Bruno Famin. He has a great background in motorsport and is an important asset to our team. I am also delighted to welcome Otmar Szafnauer on board. We have all the ingredients to continue the growth we started in 2021 ”.
Alpine’s CEO then declared that the minimum goal for this 2022 is to confirm fifth place in the Constructors, but he said he was aware that the regulatory revolution represents a big question mark about the values in the field.
“Fifth place is the minimum target we have to aim for after last year’s performances. So far we have managed to reach our targets and we are happy with the progress we have shown, but we are also aware that this year, with the regulatory revolution, we will not know our worth until we get on track. We must continue to show improvements by aiming to progress throughout the season ”.
Alpine’s entry into Formula 1 was then fundamental to relaunch the French brand on the product side, but Laurent Rossi underlined how this operation has benefited the entire Renault universe.
“Our involvement in Formula 1 is not only important for Alpine, but for the entire Renault Group. First, it allows us to experience our technical innovations in the most extreme laboratory imaginable. The arrival of Bruno, with his proven experience in transferring development from the track to the road, is very important from this point of view ”.
“Formula 1 also gives the entire Group a good media exposure. Of course, it is not easy to apply the saying “win on Sunday, sell on Monday”, but the exposure we receive through Formula 1 is indisputable ”.
“The exposure of the Alpine brand has increased by over 300% and it is an incredible result especially when you consider that the financial impact is less than what a worldwide marketing campaign would have. Now we have to consolidate our position. We have to aim high if we want to get the most out of our investment “.
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