The Enstone outfit have had the fourth fastest car for much of the 2022 season, and are favorites to secure ‘best of the rest’ in the constructors’ championship, behind only Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.
One of the key elements of their season has been an aggressive upgrade program that has helped them move ever closer to the front of the grid.
Following significant ground development that has allowed for a good step forward in performance, they will make a further adjustment for this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin .
And the development promise it is showing with its current car is reflected in the work on its 2023 car, which is currently underway in its wind tunnel and simulation facility.
Alpine’s sporting director, Alan Permane , has revealed that early indications are that next year’s car will allow for much further progress, which has led to the belief that they will be able to close in on the teams ahead.
“We’re already, really, significantly ahead in terms of next year’s car compared to this one,” Permane said when asked about the team’s progress in 2023. “It’s very good. It’s very exciting.”
Alan Permane, director deportivo de Alpine F1 Team
Alpine’s scoring form has been affected this season by a run of reliability problems in the cars of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, but the team has been clear that it needs to push things to the limit at the start of the new era of rules. in order to reap greater rewards in the long run.
“We’ve had some reliability issues but that has influenced our year,” added Permane.
“There was a huge change to the power unit, and a huge change to the gearbox. We knew there were going to be some problems, but I think we all preferred that tactic.”
“We knew it might be a bit harsh, but it would unlock significant performance. And it has. So we’re very happy with how things are going.”
Permane has praised the efforts made by the Alpine factory staff who are constantly improving with new developments, which has been shown by the new floor they introduced for Singapore.
“This is version 4 of our floor and 4B will arrive in Austin,” he explained. “We will have another update, but not as big as the last one.”
“It’s just that the wind tunnel is working really, really well. We’re finding a lot of things. We had already planned an update for Singapore, but it was just twice what we thought it was going to be.”
