Alpine overtakes McLaren for fourth in 2022, and this year it aims to be closer to third than fifth.

That goal took an unexpected hit thanks to a giant leap from Aston Martin, with Silverstone finishing second behind Red Bull after three grands prix, relegating Alpine to sixth and now behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.

While Aston looks far ahead this season and Alpine has been unable to catch up, Enstone has not given up on its aim of at least maintaining fourth and will now set its sights on chasing Mercedes.

“We think we can fight them,” Szafnauer said in Australia. “We also had a decent upgrade for Baku and one in Miami a week later, so we continued to roll out upgrades.

“We had a good correlation last year, and if that continues, if we keep pushing for promotion, we’re going to take the developmental struggles of the season to other guys around us.

“We had a really good pace last year and if we can keep the same level this year, I think we should get closer this year.

“It’s a relative race. I know what’s going to happen to us. What I don’t know is what’s going to happen with (Mercedes).”

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A523

Photography: Alpine

Alpine qualified within three tenths of Mercedes in Saudi Arabia, but Brackley managed to close the gap with a strong performance in Melbourne.

Alpine’s chief technology officer, Pat Fry, said the team now has a “four to five out of ten” advantage in qualifying to find a direct competitor. The rapid growth of the factory convinced him that bridging the gap was possible.

“We should take a reasonable step for Baku and then pass some more, and I think for Game 6, there should be some reasonable steps. We want to get to a lot of places in Miami, they are doing a good job at the factory, we managed to push those,” he said.

“On average, we need to find four out of ten or four out of five in qualifying, not to catch Red Bull but to catch everybody else, it’s all in our hands. We just have to Get past them.”

With Mercedes not doing a major floor redesign until the sixth race at Imola, the next two races in Baku and Miami could give Alpine a good chance to narrow down the upgrade with Baku. package gap.

But Fry cautioned against putting too much emphasis on what Mercedes will bring – and when – and instead focused on optimizing its full-year development budget.

“We’ve taken reasonable steps, but you don’t know what other people are doing. That’s part of the game, isn’t it?

“There will definitely be some smart performances over the next few games that will close the gap a lot. But it’s not just one game, it’s a developmental season game. And you don’t know where the others are”