Alonso sees "long-term" work and asks Alpine to focus on 2023 "as soon as possible

The new regulations for the 2022 Formula 1 season have presented all the teams on the grid with the same challenge: having to prepare cars practically from scratch. This brought some changes in the order of power, and the most felt was the fall of Mercedes, isolating itself as the third of the pack. On the other hand, Alpine is growing every step of the way and is fighting with McLaren for the fourth place among the constructors, but Fernando Alonso believes that the French team can gain even more if it starts to turn its focus to 2023.

The two-time champion's view is about investment x the result one wants to obtain. For Alonso, seeing Mercedes becoming competitive again to the point of having similar pace to Ferrari and Red Bull is even natural. However, he believes that the work at the Enstone base is already medium to long term, so he needs to focus on 2023 if he wants to win again in F1.

"I don't think it will be so easy for us. They [Mercedes] have a huge organization, we knew they would come back sooner or later," Alonso assessed. "For us, looking for this improvement is more of a medium to long term program. So I believe it's a matter of starting to work on next year's car as soon as possible so as not to compromise the project."

"The big teams can work on next year's car and, in parallel, continue developing this year's. For the others, this is a challenge," added the veteran, who also gave details on which points need immediate improvement on the A522. "The low turns are not our strong point at the moment."

"We saw in Baku, which has a lot of low turns, very strong cars. AlphaTauri finished fifth [with Pierre Gasly], and Aston Martin was also very strong. So these teams can revive again on some types of track," Alonso analyzed. "[We need] a little bit of everything. I don't think we have a weak point to solve, but there are areas to optimize everywhere," he added.