Alpine still facing ‘reality check’ despite huge Ryan Reynolds investment

Henry Valantine 28 Jun 2023 8:00 PM

Alpine driver Pierre Gasly. Canada June 2023.

Alpine are still working through a “reality check” of the rapid rise of Aston Martin cutting through their 100-race plan to reach the front of F1, according to CEO Laurent Rossi.

Alpine put forward their plan, which would see them put in place infrastructure, hire the right people and invest to compete at the front of Formula 1 in time for around 2025 when that first came to pass.

As of now, bar Esteban Ocon’s win in Hungary in 2021 and the odd podium for the team, little headway has seemingly been made in terms of truly breaking into the top of the sport and out of the congested midfield battle, the team currently sitting a distant fifth in the Constructors’ standings.

Alpine ‘leapfrogged’ by rapid Aston Martin rise

News broke this week of a €200m investment into the team by an investment group comprised of multiple entities, including Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds, Michael B. Jordan and Rob McElhenney, which purchased a 24% stake in the team.

While this provides a significant investment boost to Alpine, which will still be owned by Renault, Aston Martin’s hefty spending on a new factory and hiring around the paddock in the past couple of seasons has paid off with an enormous rise in fortunes this season, going from seventh in the Constructors’ standings last year to fighting among the frontrunners this time around.

Fernando Alonso has taken six podium finishes this year after leaving Alpine, with Ocon’s P3 in Monaco being the one trip to the podium so far for ‘Team Enstone’ so far this season.

While Rossi admits Aston Martin have been “radical” in their spending, he says Alpine are trying to change their approach accordingly in order to meet their own goals for success in the future.

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“It was a reality check for Mercedes, Ferrari, us,” Rossi said of Aston Martin’s rise, as quoted by the BBC.

“We were comfortable thinking we were on the rise, and everyone else was, and suddenly there is a guy leapfrogging all of us.

“It’s an industry that has been doing more or less the same thing for so long that it’s become a norm that it takes that much time to get there. It’s true for everything. It’s true for road cars.

“We are trying to change things here. But for that you need to put yourself in a bit of a tricky situation, an uncomfortable situation. If you do that, it works.

“I guess they’ve done it in a more radical way, put themselves in a more uncomfortable situation, to break some barriers, to change a little bit the way they were doing it.”