Alpine once again defends its aggressive approach in the development of the A522 that finished fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
During the development of the engine last season, the Alpine team decided to prioritize performance over reliability, and this caused the team’s riders, especially Fernando Alonso, to be forced to withdraw on several occasions. Despite this, the French team believes that they did the right thing, as reflected in the results.
And it is that, after all, Alpine achieved the maximum to which it could aspire last season: finishing just after Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes in the championship. Alonso and Ocon’s problems were collateral damage that, in addition to generating headlines, did not affect the time to achieve that result. Of course, for this year, they hope to have solved this lack of reliability.
The technical director of the French team, Matt Harman has defended Alpine’s strategy. “We had to make a decision that we thought was the right one for everyone, we would go for performance and take the risk of reliability. Honestly, if I went back in time, I would make the same decision,” he explained in an interview with RacingNews365.
“It is very important that we have the performance we need and a competitive power unit in the homologation phase. In my opinion, we now have the engine that allows us to be close enough to be able to compete with Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda,” he says. .
One of the big problems during the 2022 season was the water pump, which failed multiple times. “We had some problems that cost us (points) in the championship, although it didn’t affect us in the final position, but it made that fight more stressful,” admits Harman.
The positive thing is that Alpine has accumulated enormous experience on the current engine, which they will use until the entry of a new regulation in 2026, which has allowed them to solve many of the problems suffered.
“We have learned a lot about the engine and its new architecture, and I am pretty sure that next year, looking at all the problems we have had, we will not repeat them. We will look for that performance with reliability and kilowatts,” he says.
The French team is renewed for 2023, after the departure of Fernando Alonso from the structure. The until now Red Bull Academy driver, Pierre Gasly, will be the replacement for the Spaniard and teammate of his compatriot Esteban Ocon. Together, they will try to meet the 5-year win-again goal that Alpine set for himself when he entered F1 in 2021.