Alpine: Otmar Szafnaeur sees Azerbaijan GP as chance to challenge Mercedes with upgrades

Alpine

Szafnauer makes BOLD Azerbaijan GP prediction with Alpine upgrades on the way

The French outfit think they can mix it with the big boys in Baku

Joe Ellis

Wednesday 12 April 2023 21:40

Alpine is confident it can challenge Mercedes at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix thanks to some incoming updates.

Team principal Otmar Szafnauer has hinted that the new upgrades set to go on the car on the streets of Baku could be worth three-tenths of a second per lap.

The French outfit also has a secondary upgrade package due to arrive before the summer break which could see them gain another three-tenths per lap.

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Alpine is currently sixth in the constructors' standings but showed good pace in Australia before a late-race restart saw both cars crash out of the points.

Esteban Ocon's Alpine is carried away from a late crash with teammate Pierre Gasly

Szafnauer: It looks good

“We have put together a great package of updates for the race in Azerbaijan," said Szafnauer.

"If our progress is as great as we think, we can compete with Mercedes in Baku, for example.

“We take a lot of updates, but of course, we don't know what Mercedes and others will do. What I do know: our further development is more intensive than last year, and that should pay off on the track.

“We don't want our development to stop. Last year we already saw that what works well in our wind tunnel also worked really well on the car. Based on that, it looks good for the rest of the season.”