“Difficult for Alpine and McLaren to switch to 2023,” Otmar Szafnauer opines on the delicate situation in Constructors Championship
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McLaren and Alpine
Alpine F1 team after 13 rounds of the 2022 F1 season is just four points ahead of McLaren in the Constructors Championship and its Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer has indicated that the current situation makes it extremely difficult for them to focus attention on the car for 2023.
Alpine is sitting in fourth place at the moment with McLaren right on their tails in fifth and both teams desperately want the fourth position for the 2022 season for themselves.
The two midfield teams have been at each other’s throats all season and Szafnauer while shedding light on the upcoming battle said, “The first races after the summer break will be groundbreaking in the duel with McLaren. For both of us, it won’t be so easy to find the jump for the 2023 car, because we both want fourth place in the world championship.”
Otmar has stressed that the first few races after the summer break are going to be the key to setting the tone for the rest of the season and considering how tight the battle is between the two teams, he is certainly right in his assessment.
Moreover, the tension between the two teams is at an all-time high because of the Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri saga and it all stemmed when Fernando Alonso announced that he is moving to Aston Martin for the 2023 F1 season.
This led to an open seat on the French team that they thought would be filled by Oscar, but the young Australian had other plans and now it is believed that the 21-year-old has an agreement in place with McLaren for 2023.
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Alpine is still not at the level of the top three teams
Alpine came into the 2022 F1 season with the hope of challenging the front-running teams, however, it has not panned out the way they intended, and are way behind the lights of Mercedes, Red Bull, and, Ferrari.
The Enstone-based team has shown improvement compared to last season but still, the team is lacking in terms of performance that are able to get out of their A522. Moreover, Otmar Szafnauer while talking about Alpine’s comparison with the top three teams said, “They are better everywhere.”
The Alpine Team Principal has blatantly admitted that the teams ahead of them are just too good in every department and has indicated they are out of their reach this season.
While the third position in the Constructors Championship is out of the question for the Alpine F1 team, they can still wrap up the fourth slot. The remaining nine races are going to be an epic battle between Alpine and McLaren and it will be fascinating to see who among them will come away with the bragging rights at the end of the season.
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)