Alpine F1 team CEO Laurent Rossi is confident the team will progress further in 2022, going by the development progress they have made so far. The French team boss told Motorsport Network’s Spanish edition that their roadmap for the upcoming season was in a positive direction and they expect to be more competitive this year.
Explaining their approach for the 2022 season, Rossi said:
“There is not much nervousness really because we are in a position to win a lot. There are many advantages for us. Of course, we can do worse than this year, but I doubt it. I think we have a good and different development on the engine side, which was necessary, a good development on the chassis side, and the map that we have marked for the beginning of the year we are respecting it.”
According to the Alpine CEO, although they can perform worse than 2021, he highly doubted the possibility of any performance setbacks. Rossi believes they can capitalize on the performance gains made on the chassis side to reduce the performance deficit caused due to their underpowered engine.
Alpine F1 team CEO believes they will be closer to the top teams in 2022
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi explained how the team could reduce the gap to the top teams purely relying on aerodynamic development. Although the French team has a brand new improved engine for the 2022 season unlike its predecessor, the latest aerodynamic regulations will allow room for them to balance out their performance deficit by developing the chassis.
Describing the developmental roadmap for the 2022 season, Rossi said:
“That will bring us closer, perhaps not to the level of the leading teams, but we do not know. Because basically, we assume that if we gain all those points of aerodynamics, all those points of kilowatts, and of electrical energy use, we will reduce the gap between us and the best, if we assume that the best will continue to progress.”
The French manufacturer's outfit, who finished fifth in the championship, could not fight at the front. With proper development in the off-season and further throughout the 2022 season, however, one can expect the former champions to be much more competitive than in the previous years of the V6 hybrid era of the sport.