“We had problems, but McLaren and Alpine were one step ahead”

Alfa Romeo’s Xevi Pujolar thinks they will have endurance problems in 2022, but even without this they would not be ahead of McLaren and Alpine.

Posted by: Ezel Tan,
Editor

11 December 2022 16:50

At the beginning of the season, Alfa Romeo managed to produce a lighter car than most of its competitors and was clearly the best team in the middle group in the first race.

However, they had endurance problems almost every weekend during this period and were unable to leave the weekend with the highest scores.

As the season progressed, Alfa Romeo largely resolved their durability issues, but this time they lagged behind in terms of performance.

Thus, Alfa Romeo finished the season in sixth place, when suddenly it could be fourth.

Some attribute Alfa Romeo’s current state to chronic issues, but Pujos disagrees.

When asked if Alfa Romeo could have beaten Alpine and McLaren if Pujos had not had problems, he replied: “No, I think they are still one step ahead.”

Xevi Pujolar, Head of Trackside Engineering, Alfa Romeo, at the Team Principals Press Conference.

Photo: FIA Pool

“There would probably be more of a difference between us and Aston Martin, but we would still have to take another step to reach the level of Alpine or McLaren.”

“We will work on that next year as well, but basically we want to consolidate our sixth place and go one step further.”

“Our performance has been good in some points in these last few races, but there are areas where we need to improve, we are still a little behind in the speed of the race, starting from the first lap and many other areas, in those areas we will be. more ready for next year.”

Speaking about the importance of the additional income they got from the sixth place, Pujolar said, “This is important for us because the competition will increase more next year.”

“We also realized that we still have many weak points that we need to work on.”

“At the beginning of this year we had some advantages, maybe next year it will be more difficult from the beginning. Everyone will be very close to each other. So next year we have to prepare from the beginning.”

“Sixth place will help us prepare for this new challenge.” say.