"We’ve got a nice upgrade coming" - Alpine reveals changes for their cars in F1 Imola GP

Alpine will be bringing a fresh set of upgrades to their car at the Emilia Romagna GP. Alan Permane, the team's sporting director, confirmed the news on the F1 Nation podcast, revealing that Alpine was going to bring an upgraded floor to Imola. Permane also mentioned that for the GP in Imola, the upgrade will only be available for one car as the team was bringing forward the planned upgrade that was supposed to come in Miami.

The Briton further claimed that Alpine doing well in Australia had generated optimism in the team for Imola as the two tracks are not too dissimilar. He said:

“We’ve got a nice upgrade coming in Imola. We have a new floor; I think that’ll just be for one car at the moment. It was planned for Miami, and we’ve managed to pull it forward for Imola, so I’m very confident there. It might be a little track specific [for pace]. We struggled a bit in Bahrain, and here [Melbourne], we’ve been pretty happy. So let’s see. I don’t think Imola is too dissimilar to here. There’s some high-speed corners, change of direction, that sort of thing – so we’re looking forward to going.”

These upgrades are crucial for the French team now that they have a resurgent season in 2022.

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We won't be the only team bringing upgrades in Imola: Alpine

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnaeur was also quite optimistic about the team's prospects. Claiming that their car did not have any weak points and should be able to perform on all of the tracks, he said:

“This track has characteristics that other tracks have. So we will be fast in other places. Our car is strong in some areas and it has no weak points, but it is less strong than others.”

Szafnaeur was also quite confident that the sport would see multiple teams bringing upgrades to Imola as it is the first European race. He said:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone brings an upgrade to Imola. In the 25 years I’ve been doing this, it seems like the first European races are the ones where everyone plans their upgrade. It used to be Barcelona, now it’s Imola.”

The team is currently fifth in the championship standings, behind McLaren, with 22 points to the latter's 24. Fernando Alonso has lost out on two strong results in Saudi Arabia and Australia due to the team's reliability issues.

Alpine will be hoping for a smoother weekend at Imola with a fresh batch of upgrades coming in. It will be hoping to challenge for fourth position in the constructors' championship this season.