Alpine explain off-track reason behind fluctuating performance

Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer believes that the team's outdated simulation tools have caused their fluctuating performance in 2023.

The squad have endured mixed fortunes so far in the season, having scored points in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Miami while challenging weekends ensued in Australia and Azerbaijan.

After finishing the 2022 campaign in fourth place of the Constructors' Championship, the team are currently sixth in this year's standings, tied on points with McLaren.

Alpine's performance has come in for criticism from CEO Laurent Rossi, who branded the outfit's start to the season as "amateurish".

However, Team Principal Szafnauer believes that the team can take steps forwards when they update their simulator.

Alpine's simulator issues

"There are bigger teams out there that have better simulation tools," Szafnauer told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"Coming into a weekend, the thing you do is you use all your simulation tools to predict a bunch of set-up parameters that you need to put on the car.

"And sometimes our simulation tools are good enough to get us close and then we start off and we're good, and other times not so, so we'll start off slower, then get feedback from the drivers, adjust, and then we make bigger steps.

"If you have perfect simulation tools, or close to it, then you start the weekend pretty close to your optimal for that race."

New simulator for Alpine

To address this, Alpine have ensured that a new simulator is on the way.

"We're working on that. We've purchased a brand new state-of-the-art simulator that should be with us in one and a half to two years," Szafnauer explained.

"We've hired people to help us with more accurate lap sims, and if you can do all that work before you get to the track then you're closer to where you're going to end up, and then you don't get this [fluctuation]."