The new single-seater with which Ocon and Gasly hope to reduce the gap from Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes was presented in a trendy club in the London capital. Ceo De Meo: “Passion and determination throughout the team, progress is tangible”
February 16th
– london (England)
The A523 is the latest to appear in chronological order, but the ambitions are first class. It couldn’t be otherwise for Alpine, the sports car from the Renault Group, a name that remains an iconic brand in Formula 1. In the trendy London location of Printworks, a former printing house for British newspapers (including the Daily Mail) transformed into a venue for social events, the “French national team” of F1 officially begins its 2023 in which it will try to write new pages of successes. Or at least of new signs of growth, such as those mentioned by Luca De Meo, the Italian CEO of the Renault Group who follows this sporting adventure as a great enthusiast.
de meo ambitious
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It starts from the fourth constructors place behind Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. With one less Fernando Alonso and one more Pierre Gasly alongside the confirmed Esteban Ocon. An all-transalpine couple who make the Alpine the true French-registered Scuderia as has not happened since the days of the Renault in 1982 with Alain Prost and Renè Arnoux at the wheel. CEO Luca De Meo does not hide his ambitions: “I can’t wait for the 2023 Formula 1 season to start and I am eager to see Alpine F1 continue its impressive journey towards the top places on the grid. Since the Alpine name entered Formula 1, I have seen clear and tangible progress, which is the end result of the passion, determination and dedication of every single member of staff contributing to the success of the team. All of this often reminds me why I decided to put Alpine in F1”.
over 300 points
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Under the technical guidance of Pat Fry and technical director Matt Harman, the A523 has the difficult task of closing the gap of more than 300 points which in 2022 separated the team from further up in the standings, Mercedes and Ferrari (the Red Bull from a certain point of the season has made a league of its own). Therefore, realistically, for Alpine 2023 must be a year in which to continue to show progress. In this sense, Fernando Alonso’s somewhat traumatic farewell risks not being a helping factor in enhancing the car’s performance. But on the other hand, Ocon’s energy and Gasly’s desire to seize the great opportunity to return to his homeland as a prophet after the experience in AlphaTauri immediately guarantee a good boost.
hard work
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Which is also reflected in the words of team principal Ottmar Szafnauer: “We have worked hard to develop the A523, combining pure innovation with everything we learned from last season to achieve what we believe is an excellent package. This year, we have a more competitive car. The teams from both plants, Viry and Enstone, have worked together to improve overall reliability, which we sometimes lacked last season. We continue to grow our workforce and I see a spark of team spirit and a lot of motivation from everyone to move the team forward. The word to the track, only time will tell where we will finish in the standings”. Only time will tell us where we will be in the standings.”
aerodynamics
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A lot of work has focused on reliability. From a design point of view, however, it is the director Harman who explains where the interventions were made: “The A523 has certainly evolved from many points of view compared to the previous model, the A522. We made changes to the front and rear suspension and unlocked some front wing and front flow structure performance that allowed us to increase the performance of the diffuser, thus introducing a slightly different concept to the rear suspension. We have adapted the size and positioning of the heat rejection system and improved the efficiency of the rear wing, especially the beam wing to increase aerodynamic efficiency”.
they speak ocon and gasly
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This is what Ocon and Gasly are obviously hoping for. The former, in his fourth season with Renault, is enthusiastic, but remains down to earth: “A new car brings new opportunities and, as a driver, all you want is to get out on the track, push hard and fight for good results. results together with the team. This is the plan for the A523. Of course, there’s not much I can reveal at this stage, we’ll have to wait until Bahrain, but I’m thrilled with what I’ve seen so far. Like every year, we don’t know where our opponents are, so it’s best to keep our heads down and focus on ourselves and what we can control. Gasly? His arrival is fantastic because we used to race karts together as kids and now we find ourselves living the same dream in a French team, I’m sure he will help the team a lot to achieve its goals”. Pierre Gasly confirms: “Esteban and I will race together and we’ve already won a GP in F1 – he said – I can’t wait to catch up with the team because I know it won’t be easy at first. But I like teamwork and I want to contribute to help Alpine achieve its goals. I thank Red Bull for the opportunity it has given me over the years, but now I want to make a clean slate and start this new adventure right”.
February 16, 2023 (change February 16, 2023 | 21:51)
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