With Renault re-branding itself to Alpine for the 2021 Formula 1 season, the CEO of the French automotive giant, Luca de Meo, has stated that the team can ill-afford to have a shitty season despite the team focusing their efforts more towards the technical overhaul in 2022. The Enstone-based outfit finished fifth in last year's standings claiming three podiums over the course of the season. However, with the arrival of Fernando Alonso and the team's second driver Esteban Ocon more experienced, Alpine will be looking to add to their trophy haul this year. "We don't want to make 2021, let's say, a sh*** season," de Meo told Motorsport.com among others. "For a successful season, I think we are in competition with ourselves," we are very much focusing also on 2022. For us, the real big challenge will start in 2022." De Meo though still has clear expectations for this year. "I think my expectation is that we get better and better every race. We'll try not to go back from the previous position of last year, but it will be complicated because you have teams that improved a lot. "But I think that new spirit, having people like Fernando (Alonso) also coming into the team, he is a real performer. "We have Fernando, who wants to win all the time, and we have Esteban, that is young and needs to prove [himself]. He cannot waste this time, years and years, by being at the end of the grid. "So they have a motivation. And we need to give them a good service as a team, to the drivers. So we are there to work and we will see how we can improve race after race. "Let's see what happens. Because also the others are getting stronger and stronger." Alpine have undergone a significant structural change in the way they operate. Whether this will pay dividends or not remains to be seen, however, as de Meo himself highlighted, the French squad is tailoring their efforts more towards 2022 than the upcoming season.
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