SK Exclusive: "We have some coming" - Alpine boss on team's upgrade plans going into F1's summer break

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer revealed that the team will be bringing more upgrades to the 2022 F1 Belgian GP at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The French team’s principal felt they will have several upgrades ready before the summer break officially starts on Friday.

Asked by Sportskeeda in Hungary about the development of their car and upgrades henceforth, Szafnauer said:

“Over the summer break, we all by regulation do nothing. But we have working up the summer break for us is Friday... so then we come back on a Friday. Up and till then we will be preparing our upgrades for Spa and we have some coming which is good.”

The Alpine team principal believes that upgrades for Spa will be prepared before August 6, 2022. According to the regulations, developmental work will be paused until summer break officially ends before which they will have a significant major upgrade ready for their car.

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Alpine reveal budget caps have not hampered their ability to bring upgrades

While the Alpine team principal admitted McLaren have made progress with their performance, he claimed that they have counter moves in store. Speaking to Sportskeeda and select media at the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP, Otmar Szafnauer revealed the French outfit had enough room to spend aggressively on upgrades despite the cost cap. It is, therefore, understood that the team has been able to develop their car aggressively and will be ready with another significant upgrade at the 2022 F1 Belgian GP.

Commenting on McLaren’s progress in performance and further shedding light on Alpine's plans for upgrades to their car, Szafnauer said:

“Yeah. They (McLaren) definitely made a step. But our plan has always been, as soon as we find something in the tunnel because we had headroom under the cost cap. So there is no cost cap consideration stopping us from bringing upgrades. So whenever we found something we would make it, make it in quantities and bring it. And especially if it was added, we didn’t have to throw stuff out or replace you know what I mean, and that’s still the case. So we’ll have something Spa and that has to be finished in quantities by Friday. But we’ll get that done.”

McLaren and Alpine were tied on points before the 2022 F1 French GP, but now the latter leads the former by six points. The Woking-based team, however, heavily upgraded their car in the last two weekends before the summer break and witnessed a performance surge. Considering Szafnauer’s claims, the Enstone-Based team will be ready with more upgrades to counter their rival’s performance and retain fourth place in the championship.