“We will push hard to try to compete with them” – Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer is intrigued by the possibility of finishing P3 this season, ahead of Mercedes.
Alpine had a decent-to-average outing last season, competing in the midfield against fellow ‘A’ teams AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo, and Aston Martin.
This season though, they have upped their game, and look good for a few podiums, especially with the Esteban Ocon x Fernando Alonso partnership working really well.
The French team is proving to be tough competiton for world champions Mercedes, but team principal Otmar Szafnauer expects them to bounce back (like everyone else).
“On race pace, watching the race in Saudi Arabia they are clearly ahead of us. Maybe they had some issues in qualifying.
“We will push hard to try to compete with them. But sitting here now, it looks like they probably have a better race car.
“It’s a carrot to keep pushing. It will take us a few races, to have a variety of races, to really assess where we are in the pecking order. And then it will be a development race this year.”
Alpine to win world title this decade?
Renault last won a title in 2006, succesfully breaking Ferrari’s dominance over the sport. And with things looking on the up, Szafnauer is confident his team can deliver big time in the seasons to come.
“The guys at Viry [power unit developers] from what I see have done a great job and improved the powertrain.
“They have done wonderful work over the winter. And we have a good base to keep improving.”
