Aston Martin’s work is annoying its direct rivals

The amazing leap in quality of Aston Martin which for a year has been “a reality check” for rival teams and for Formula One as a whole, for a year, has been third in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships 2023. recognized Alpine F1 CEO Laurent Rossi.

“I think it’s a reality check for Mercedes, Ferrari and us. For everyone. For all F1 sports“, Rossi acknowledged at a meeting with journalists at the Alpine factory in Enstone in the presentation of the new strategy.
The group owned by the Canadian billionaire Lawrence Take a Walk Based at Silverstone, he finished seventh overall last year with just 55 points and is now third with 154 – after being second from Bahrain GP to Monaco GP – behind leaders Red Bull and former champions Mercedes .
Fernando Alonso he has been on the podium six times in eight races, with two second places in Monte Carlo and Montreal. The Asturian is third overall after the untouchable Max Verstappen -195 points- and his teammate Checo Pérez -126-, the two drivers who shared all the victories in the campaign, and only 9 points separate to him from second place.
“We were comfortable thinking that we were rising, and everything else, and suddenly a guy jumped on us all,” exclaimed Rossi, whose team after being fourth with the Alonso-Ocon duo expected the more included the renewed. Ocón -Gasly and not only had a reality check with the loss of Alonso but he was fifth overall.
To take the quality jump Aston Martin It hired key technical staff from Red Bull, notably technical director Dan Fallows, and engine suppliers Mercedes, but Rossi suggested they also shook up the established ways of way of thinking.

“It’s an industry that’s been doing pretty much the same thing for so long that it’s become a standard that’s taken a long time to get there,” French said. “This is true for everything, for road cars. They (Aston) changed some things, faster, different, took a little more risk and it paid off.”

Rossi recognized that Alpine needed to replicate that by speeding up the processes to get improved parts into the car, taking more risks and using their strength as a work group.

“People start scratching their heads a little bit thinking maybe we’re being too conservative, maybe we’re doing too much validation, maybe we can shorten the process here and there. You realize over time you’ve taken a lot of extra precautions because one day you’ll face the problem and say to yourself ‘okay, next time we’ll do it all the time’. Now you’ll look at it and in retrospect it may not be necessary. many things,” he admitted.