Respectively 8th and 9th in the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon limited the damage. Insufficient to change the following observation: Alpine missed its start to the season in F1. Tied with McLaren, the French team occupies 5th place in the constructors’ standings after five GPs, with 14 small points, or 64 less than Ferrari, tenant of a fourth place that Alpine had obtained at the end of last season. .
So inevitably, its CEO Laurent Rossi is not happy, and he has made it known in an interview published on the official F1 website. “It’s a difficult year ahead, launched the French leader. But the season has only just begun. I don’t want to give up, but things need to change. »
Szafnauer in the sights
In particular “the state of mind”, according to Rossi. “It starts with acknowledging your mistakes, not repeating them and learning from those mistakes,” he continued. This year there are a lot of excuses, leading to poor performance and a lack of operational excellence. The leader does not spare Otmar Szafnauer, the director of Alpine in F1. “He is responsible for the performance of the team, it is his job. We can’t hide. »
“Confidence is something that increases with good results and erodes with bad ones”, added Rossi, more lenient towards his compatriots Ocon and Gasly: “They do their part of the job, we owe them and Alpine a higher level of performance. Do not panic however, Alpine is not going to withdraw from F1. “There is zero risk, repeated Rossi. Our commitment is extremely strong. »