"We're spending money on tools"- Alpine boss lays down plan to win an F1 world championship in next five years

Otmar Szafnauer, the team principal of Alpine, has stated that the team's goal is to achieve a world championship within the next 5 years, along with other promising words. The team is currently a mid-field car but has managed to battle the ones on top with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon as their drivers. Szafnauer stated that the team is continuously improving not only for what's left of the year but for the coming years as well.

During the press conference for the Dutch Grand Prix, Szafnauer was asked about the image of the team, to which he replied that it's being formed on how we perform on the track. He also said that the team has been spending money on upgrades to make the most out of the cars. All these aspects, he believes, are preparing the team for the ultimate goal.

"We'll do the best we can. Not for just this year, but to continue to improve the team. We're on a recruiting drive. We're spending money on tools."

Alpine was born when the Renault F1 team was rebranded after the 2020 season. While Alonso made a shocking return to the sport after 2018, Esteban Ocon was selected as the driver. The first season for the team went fairly well, with a 5th place finish behind McLaren with 155 points. This year, though, they have outperformed McLaren with 125 points in their bag, while Ricciardo and Norris follow that up with a total of 101 points for their team.

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Alpine are currently battling to finish for the podium places as their principal reveals

While talking about the team's future prospects, Otmar Szafnauer also revealed that the team is currently competing for a top-3 finish, as he said:

"We understand what It takes to compete amongst the Top Three. That's our goal, with a goal of winning a World Championship in five years."

Alpine has proven to be competitive enough this year, but the gap between Mercedes in 3rd place is far too high for them to cover in order to beat them in the championship. Similarly, during the races, the top spots are acquired by Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes, making it hard for them to finish on the podium.

Alpine is currently also struggling to decide on a driver for next year. After Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement, Alonso decided to make a move to Aston Martin next year, after which the team announced Oscar Piastri's entry. However, an absurd post from Piastri clarified that he was not going to be driving for them. Since then, there has been speculation about either Ricciardo or Mick Schumacher joining the team. However, interestingly enough, Helmut Marko opened talks about Pierre Gasly taking up the seat.

Finally, Otmar stated the following:

"We've got to put the rudiments in place for that to happen. And we're in the middle of doing that. So, the best thing for Alpine’s image is to win on track, and that's what we're going to try to do."

According to the team principal, to give the team the opportunity to win, it is necessary to perform well on track.