In 2022, there was a lot of talk about Alonso and Alpine’s famous ‘Plan’. At that time, Otmar Szafnauer is marked a deadline of 100 races to return the team to the top. That ‘plan’ is based on progressing year after year to go all out on some course, bearing in mind that in F1 you can’t fight back for wins and close the gap to the top teams overnight. however, Fernando Alonso decided to bet on Aston Martin and when he announced his signing for the green team, the Asturian assured in a strong way that one of the reasons why he went to the Silverstone team was because he saw an ambition in his project that he did not see in the French team.. Without going any further, in his presentation Aston Martin AMR23 for this season, the Asturian dropped a comment that many believe was pointed Alpine. For this reason, in the presentation of the new Alpine A523now the Spaniards are no longer in the French team, MD asked Enstone Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer about the alleged lack of ambition Fernando was referring to when he signed for Aston Martin.
“I know what our ambitions are. To improve. It’s a relative game. To improve each one of us, every year and take a step forward every year.”responded to MD when asked about Fernando’s words about the greatest ambition he sees in Aston Martin.
“The Alpine plan is still on track. We still have about 75 races,” He added another question to this newspaper, referring to the long-term goal the team set for themselves last year to achieve 100 race victories.
“I am motivated and happy with what I see in Aston Martin. This team is not happy with fourth position, third position or second position. It is very different from other teams I have been with, which have been successful in the past. , but they fourth and they are happy in fourth place, or they are fifth and they are satisfied and the seventh position is a celebration. Here there is no celebration until we win”, said the Spaniard during last week’s presentation.
In the same press corral, Szafnauer answered more questions about Fernando Alonso. before the Spanish press. One of them, about whether he misses the Asturian in his team because of how much he helped with his instructions to improve the car. “We haven’t started yet. Ask me that in a few months”He pointed to a Fernando that he didn’t know if he could fight with weapons like Alpine in battle to rule the middle zone.
“It’s hard to know. We will know soon, in two or three weeks. But for me the real test is not the year 2023, it’s in 2024, when they have to come up with ideas for themselves, you can’t bring them from Red Bull or Mercedes. Those ideas you have to put in the car and build yourself. That will be the real test.”commented on the project of Aston Martin.
Goal: fourth place
Otmar Szafnauer is very optimistic for the 2023 season, having set himself, together with the entire management of the brand, the goals of repeating the fourth position from last year while improving his performance and continuing to take steps forward to get closer to the top three. better teams, and in turn, have fewer retirements after improving engine reliability this winter.
“We have to improve and, as I said in the presentation, we want fourth place, but not only that, we also want to be there, close to third and improve more than other teams. It’s not easy to achieve, but it’s the we have a purpose”. In that sense, Otmar is confident that the team “is in a better position compared to a year ago.”
“This year the shakedown has been much better, the quality of the car is much better. We have three main objectives: the first, to improve the reliability problems that we had. The second, to lose weight significantly compared to last year because we is overweight, and thirdly, to continue the future aerodynamic development in the car,” he added.
“What happened to reliability? It’s something very specific to the power unit that we can’t fix during the season, but we know how to do it and the areas where we suffered we fixed them during the winter”, he pointed out. out, make sure your team does a good job on this.
“Last year we made significant improvements in our performance throughout the year but we also had some reliability issues and we fixed those (with the engine).. The FIA allowed us to do this and we made the right decisions: We improved the performance of the car and solved the reliability,” he said.
“We’re not afraid to take risks and fail. That’s changing. But it takes time. I think we’re in a better place than a year ago,” warned Otmar, highlighting the change in philosophy he’s seen at the Enstone factory: “It’s amazing how a group of people have the same goal and push in the same direction with the same racing spirit. The Enstone spirit has evolved into the Alpine spirit.”
On the other hand, he is sure that Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, childhood friends who had a bad relationship a few years ago and are now together in a team in Alpine, will have no problem with each other: “There will be no problem. to work together, work together for the sake of the team and not just himself”.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
