Laurent Rossi: We would take Gasly if he came from Bangladesh

Laurent Rossi, CEO of Alpine, actually combines two functions: he heads the sports division of the Renault group and is also responsible for the Formula 1 factory team.

He has had a love for motorsport from an early age: he was born and raised on the island of Corsica, where the rounds of the World Rally Championship Tour de Corse were regularly held at the time. His father was a car mechanic with an interest in motorsport and even helped rally teams repair cars.

“All of this, of course, had a big impact on me,” said Rossi, who took part in the Beyond the Grid podcast. – My father sometimes took part in races himself and sometimes helped racers, because he knew how to repair cars.

In my family, no one had a university degree, everyone worked from the age of 16, and so all his life. But I was lucky: the family essentially got me thinking about continuing my education, which I did. I didn’t get the chance to become a racing driver myself, although motor racing could have been my hobby, as in the case of my father, but first I had to find a real job.

I must admit that probably everything is for the best: I like my job, I like strategic planning and solving managerial problems. At the same time, I also really like that I am involved in sports – everything is very well combined. ”

When asked about the challenges for Alpine F1 in 2023, Rossi said: “Two years ago I was talking about the fact that we had a plan for 100 races ahead and we are still sticking to it. It takes time to turn around such a big ship and rise to the level of Mercedes or Red Bull.

In the past, these teams took three, four or five years to achieve victories. Ferrari needed even more to fight regularly for the podium again. The first two years of our five-year plan are going well, the results of the team as a whole are in line with our expectations: in 2021 we took 5th place in the Constructors’ Championship, in 2022 we finished fourth.

It is natural that we are now looking at the top three, although we must admit that we are still a long way from third place. This year is very important because we need to prove that we are catching up with the top teams, although it is clear that beating one of them would be an ideal achievement.

Let’s say this is a strategic goal, but for now the minimum program is to finish the season in 4th place in the Constructors’ Championship and continue to pick up the pace to eventually reach the top three. And for this there is no other way than to periodically rise to the podium at the end of the race. Although a sixth or seventh place is not bad either, because a few years ago we barely made it into the top ten.

But it is like climbing a high mountain: each successive stage of the ascent is more difficult than the previous one. But we are on the right track, because we have not only invested in modernizing the infrastructure of the team, but also invited excellent specialists.

By the way, if we talk about the technical side, one of the very important measures was the construction of a dynamic test bench at the base in Viri, on which you can test the chassis with the engine on it. About 70% of the situations that occur on a real track can be simulated in this mode.”

Alpine has two French riders this year: Esteban Ocon’s new teammate is Pierre Gasly. However, Laurent Rossi assures that the national moment has nothing to do with it: “Nationality does not matter at all to me, and if Pierre was from Bangladesh, I would have signed a contract with him anyway. Frankly, I understand very well that Alpine is also a British team.

So the brand is French, but the team is very British, and I’m proud that our team combines these two cultures.