Alpine goes from trouble to trouble. The French team began the season with the aim of fighting with Ferrari and Mercedes for the second place in the constructors’ world championshipas stated by its director, Otmar Szafnauer.
However, not only are they further from the front places than in 2022, but first, Aston Martin overtook them from the start of the season, and with their great result at the British Grand Prix, Mclaren gave them a run for their money. advanced in the constructors’ championship, relegating them to sixth place.
These results have not sat well with the leadership of the Renault Group, which responded yesterday firing team CEO, Laurent Rossi. Internal issues aren’t the only ones plaguing Alpine, however.
This weekend what could be the origin of the Enstone team’s lack of speed became known. According to the German magazine ‘Auto Motor und Sport’, the French team has detected a significant performance deficit in its engines.
On the dyno, Alpine powertrains have offered 30 hp less power than Mercedes, Honda and Ferrari. This would explain why the A523 has been competitive on slow circuits, such as Monaco either Miamiwhile it has suffered on high-speed tracks, such as Silverstone or the Red Bull Ring.
an irreversible problem
This lack of power will not be able to be solved in the short term. In order to reduce costs, at the beginning of 2022 the development of the engines was frozen until the year 2026when the new technical regulation enters into force, so Alpine will have to live with this lack of power for the next two and a half years..
