Season Review: Alpine F1 – All Formula 1 News 2022

Alpine has been teetering on the edge of fourth-fifth for several years, lagging behind the top three and not aiming for more. The 2022 season brought fourth place, but not a single podium…

Before the start of the season, none of the pundits put Alpine in fourth place, given the changes in the regulations, problems with the power plant’s lack of power and the constant changes in the lead. It seemed to many that their rivals would achieve more, but one of the team’s advantages was two fast, stable and charged racers.

The expression that “our riders motivate each other” is seen as a cliché – it sounds too often, but Ocon and Alonso really fought like lions. You have to give them their right. Fernando won the qualifications, Esteban – in the individual competition. Not without reliability issues, but overall a real brawler!

In a few Windows – Alonso did not want to admit anyone. From the outside, this tension was not always noticeable – they skillfully hid it, but at the end of the season, after another incident, the team’s management threatened to fire them both. A duel in the French team, which was to be expected, led to the departure of one of the duelists.

A new leader came to the team before the start of the season – Romanian-born American engineer Otmar Szafnauer did not match the bold ambitions of Aston Martin’s management, but brought his many years of practical experience to the French team and brought an Austrian sponsor , BWT, who, in addition to clean water, is known for painting all the projects in which he participates pink.

Safnauer replaced the failed duo of CEO Laurent Rossi and race director Davide Brivio – each good in their own right, but they didn’t do their job in this role. After them and after the politician Abiteboul, the team needed a practitioner with experience in “live work”. And Safnauer did well. Brivio, who made an excellent career in MotoGP, was first sent to the youth series, then completely disappeared from the news.

Current Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri was also present at the presentation of the new car. A fast and talented Australian rider who Alpine couldn’t get into the first team, but didn’t want to lose either. During the season he developed a huge test program for him driving last year’s car – and paid for it in full. But Oscar clearly expected more.

The team had a stable season, but at a modest level. The first three were totally unachievable – Mercedes earned 515 points in third place to 173 for the French.

Alpine’s best result was 18 points over Suzuka, where Okon was fourth in the rain and Alonso seventh.

By this time, Alonso already knew he would change the team, and Alpine managed to survive a difficult legal crisis that entertained the public, but not the team during the summer break.

Over the spring and summer, Oscar Piastri was linked to several teams, it was clear he was a burden to Alpine – Ocon was on a multi-year contract, they were negotiating an extension with Alonso and the Spaniard openly said he wasn’t going to go anywhere leave. There was no room for Piastri – and the journalists were looking for options for one of the best riders of the new generation. There is no doubt that he would be the lead pilot of one of the teams in 2023, but the question is: which one?

Alpine, for its part, was also looking for options for him, but at Williams, where he could replace Nicholas Latifi, that was not at all with him.

As a result, the Australian – and his manager Mark Webber – began to negotiate themselves and in the summer, without informing Alpine management, after consulting lawyers, they signed a contract with McLaren. They assured that the “grey areas” in Piastri’s contract with Alpine allow him to leave the team without consequences. Alpine subsequently fired its legal director, Benedict Mercer, who drafted this contract.

Thunder struck at the start of the summer holidays. Alonso and Safnauer were negotiating a contract extension, but their tone will not please the Spaniard. Otmar offered the rider a one-year contract, explaining that the Spaniard was no longer young, that one day the results would start to deteriorate and that he had Piastri hungry for battle. And Okon is in great shape.

Fernando did not like this, he left Hungary, he informed the team that negotiations would continue, and in the morning there was a release from Aston Martin that Alonso would replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel in 2023.

Safnauer was speechless. The unexpected loss of a status driver is undoubtedly a failure of the team’s management, but the worst was yet to come.

A day later, the Aston Martin press office announced that Piastri would replace Alonso in the 2023 season, and an hour later Oscar himself issued a statement that he would not drive for Aston Martin under any circumstances in 2023. A curtain!

Oscar Pistri: “I decided to leave Alpine long before Alonso left – and told the team in advance that I had no intention of staying. I was very upset when Alpine released a contract statement with me for 2023. This made it impossible for me to say goodbye to everyone at Enstone.

I was working on the simulator when Otmar Szafnauer came forward and said I would drive for Alpine next season. Bad time. He said this publicly in front of some of the staff who didn’t know the situation and I didn’t want to make a scene in front of them. But as soon as we were alone I reminded Otmar of my position, of what I had repeatedly told him. And the team’s statement that followed came as a complete surprise to me.

It was the most important moment of my career, if not my whole life. After the false statement, we knew we had to fix it, that there could be legal consequences if we didn’t respond. We didn’t mean to offend anyone, we were just stating a fact. And that has been confirmed by the Recognition of Contracts Council.”

In the end, of course, everything turned out fine. Attorneys Alpine and McLaren agreed. During tests, Piastri has already worked at McLaren and Alonso at Aston Martin.

Tired of Helmut’s tutelage, Marco Pierre Gasly agreed to join Alpine, who would not replace Alonso, but Alpine would have an all-French squad next season. This could attract the attention of French sponsors, but there is no longer a French stage on the calendar and without it it is not so interesting.

Goals change, leadership changes, Enstone team that has undergone six name changes (Toleman (1981-1985) – Benetton (1986-2001) – Renault (2002-2011) – Lotus (2012-2015) – Renault (2016-2020) – Alpine (2021-…), as the Phoenix continues to rise from the ashes.

It is pretty much clear to everyone why they are in Formula 1. For some this is business, for some it is glory, for others it is historical tradition. For Alpine – neither one nor the other nor the third. But they spend a lot of money, fight and get good results.

And in 2022 the Alpine F1 turned out to be “the best of the rest”!