Alpine F1 explain their mysterious ‘100-race plan’

Renault (now competing as Alpine) have a storied history in Formula 1, especially as an engine manufacturer. Teams with their engines have won 12 Constructors’ championships. Their history as a works team has been a bit here and there. While they won double world titles in 2005 and 2006, they’ve had no luck since. Controversy followed with the ‘Crashgate’ incident in 2008, and by 2010, Renault had scaled back their involvement – continuing mostly as an engine supplier.

In 2011, this previous works team rebranded to Lotus, with Renault staying as an engine supplier. In late 2015, Renault came back into F1 (as an OEM) after the end of their full-works partnership with Red Bull, by re-buying Lotus. On their entry, they set a five-year plan to compete for the world championship in 2020. As you know, this didn’t work out. After their rebrand to Alpine, they set a 100-race plan to return to championship contention.

100 Grands Prix, as per the current calendar, is about four seasons worth of Formula 1 action. Two seasons have passed, and their fortunes don’t seem to have undergone a particular improvement. In their final three seasons as Renault, the team finished P4, P5, and P5. After their rebrand, they finished P5 and then went up a place to P4 in 2022. While the results look similar, they are undergoing many changes to reach where they want (by around 2024).

As to what the 100-race plan actually encompasses, technical director Matt Harman told RacingNews365.com: “We’ve got a big plan, you’ve heard of it – our 100-race plan encompasses an awful lot of things. It encompasses facilities, technology, simulation technologies and performance development where we apply developments at the circuit. The people we have, we’re not just growing the number of people, we’re growing the type of people we have and the particular expertise we need.”

Read More: “There is no distraction,” Alpine technical director on the ‘massive advantage’ coming from no longer supplying engines to McLaren and Red Bull

Alpine TD Matt Harman on progress and the team’s goals for 2023

Alpine-Renault clearly hope to fight at the front, against teams like Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull. But it’s definitely not going to be easy – this year is an example. While they took a step forward in relation to the championship position, they scored no podiums, and the top three teams were completely dominant over the rest of the grid. It looks rather unlikely that they’ll be able to join this fight in 2023.

Matt Harman knows as much. He said: “For me, that’s moving forward and we have got that target for [2023] of converging on that third place [in the Constructors’], but it is getting more and more difficult. I’ve had to make this jump before in another team (Mercedes) and it isn’t easy, but fundamentally, we’re not asking for it, we’re doing something about it. There’s things that you’re yet to see that will arrive over the next few years and that’s what we need to do: ratchet everything up at the same ratio.”

Alpine are currently 44 races into their 100-race plan. By the end of 2023, that number will rise to around 77 or 78, depending on if the Chinese GP returns or is replaced. They fairly comfortably had the fourth-best car in 2022, but the gulf in performance between them and the top three teams is huge, while the teams below them, such as McLaren, are much closer to them. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare with their new all-French lineup in 2023.

In case you missed it:

• “He’s going to bring what we need,” Alpine’s Laurent Rossi has very clear vision for Pierre Gasly’s role in the team
• “Not that ugly pink anymore please,” Fans react as Alpine F1 announce car launch date

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