‘It’s more performance,” Otmar Szafnauer reveals Alpine’s plans to bring a ‘new floor’ to Spa amidst torrid F1 run
Alpine wants to end the first leg of the 2023 campaign on a strong note.
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Otmar Szafnauer (Credits: F1)
The Alpine F1 team is on a horrendous run at the pinnacle of motor racing. The outfit has struggled massively in the recent F1 races and in order to bring its season back on track, they are all set to get a new floor for this week’s Belgian Grand Prix. Otmar Szafnauer and Co. don’t want to lose more ground to rival teams than it already has.
The Alpine F1 team has had two DNFs in the last two races with both its cars, pushing them backward on the grid. As things stand, they are currently the sixth-fastest team on the grid. The upcoming race is the last event before the summer break and the French manufacturer is determined to end the first leg of the 2023 season on a solid note.
Ahead of the upcoming event, Otmar Szafnauer told Pitdebrief, “We will still bring the floor. The floor is more performance. It’s a tenth and a half to 2 tenths — it’s around 2 tenths of a second lap, I think. Whatever it is, it’s a new floor, it’s more performance, we are going to put it on. We have a short period of time to assess and analyse, but we have — on that side of it — we have good tools, good tools to assess.”
“The floor will be instrumented so that we can see if it’s sucking more, and how many points of downforce we get out of it.” Szafnauer is optimistic about the upgrade that they are bringing to Spa but they are not going to be the only ones to have upgrades, as most of the other outfits would also want to close out the first leg in a strong position.
Otmar Szafnauer feels Pierre Gasly needs to get his act sorted
While Otmar Szafnauer has revealed that Alpine will bring a new upgrade to the picturesque Spa F1 Circuit, he has also talked specifically about his new driver Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman has joined the outfit this year only and has only scored a single point in his last four outings at the pinnacle of motor racing.
While talking about Pierre Gasly, Szafnauer added, “I mean, Pierre is doing a good job for us. He seems to be on the short end of the stick, so hopefully in Spa, he can turn that around. Focus on the things that you’ve got control over, do the best you can and it will come. He couldn’t have predicted the Haas engine failure when we just pitted him to undercut Alonso. That’s not his fault.”
The Belgian Grand Prix holds a lot of significance for a team like Alpine that was recently sitting pretty in the fifth position. McLaren’s upturn in form has surprised the whole paddock and as things stand, they have a healthy lead over Pierre Gasly and Co. in the Constructors standings and from this perspective, Alpine desperately needs a strong weekend.
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Rishabh Negi
(3244 Articles Published)