After the double retirement of the Alpine drivers at Silverstone, everyone thought the worst was over. With improvements in Hungary, things were supposed to get better for the French team. However, on the Budapest track, nothing worked properly. First, in qualifying, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon couldn’t do better than 15th and 12th on the grid. Then, at the start, another disaster struck. Zhou collided with Ricciardo, who then crashed into Gasly, who in turn crashed into Ocon. Surely, this new double retirement is a result of bad luck, but the observation remains: Alpine is drowning.<\/p>\n
\u00ab We had no control over these two DNFs, just as we had no control over the DNFs at Silverstone,” Otmar Szafnauer declared after the Hungarian Grand Prix, which quickly ended for Alpine.<\/p>\n
With the recent removal of Laurent Rossi from his position as CEO of Alpine, questions arise about the future of Omar Szafnauer. However, the Team Principal of the French team is not afraid of losing his position, as he has complete confidence in Luca de Meo, the head of the Renault group.<\/p>\n
\u00ab It should not be forgotten that Laurent Rossi is currently working on special projects,” Szafnauer said, before continuing: \u00ab Yes, he hired me, but Luca de Meo also hired me, and it was Luca who ultimately sat down with me and convinced me to join his project. \u00bb<\/p>\n
In addition, Otmar Szafnauer recalls the plan for 100 races for Alpine. \u00ab As we know, the Alpine project was based on the 100-race plan, and I think we have done about thirty of them. So we still have around 60 races left. And it takes time, stated \u00bb the Team Principal of Alpine.<\/p>\n
\u00ab It took time for everyone. I know that Luca is a man of his word, and he gave me his word of completing 100 races to start winning, and sometimes you have to take a half-step back to take two forwards \u00bb he concluded on the plan of the 100 races. The target is set by Alpine, but actually making progress is another story and it requires the means to do so.<\/p>\n
Speaking about Alpine’s plan, Otmar Szafnauer takes the example of Red Bull, which took some time before competing at the forefront. \u00ab Red Bull, which has been quite successful, acquired Jaguar, an intermediate team, and it took them five years to start winning \u00bb he said before continuing: \u00ab It seems that this is what it takes: four to five years. 100 races is a realistic number. In general, stability is very, very important in this type of team when managing between 950 and 1000 people. \u00bb<\/p>\n
In Belgium, for the last race before the summer break, a significant improvement is expected with the introduction of a new floor. Will Alpine experience a performance leap similar to McLaren’s? It’s impossible to tell, but Otmar Szafnauer predicts an improvement of about two-tenths. We’ll find out starting Friday for the start of the weekend in Spa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After two disastrous Grand Prix races for Alpine, the drowning continues for the French team. However, the Team Principal of the team, Otmar Szafnauer, doesn’t feel in danger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":32585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[53,474,1156],"class_list":["post-2919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-alpine-f1-team","tag-grand-prix-de-belgique","tag-szafnauer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n