Fernando Alonso has warned Alpine not to compromise its 2023 car by extending the development of its current-spec machine too far into the back-half of the season.
Alpine's improved performance this year is allowing the Enstone squad to challenge mid-field rival McLaren for a spot among the top four in F1's Constructors' standings.
The two teams head into the French Grand Prix weekend – Alpine's home race – on an equal footing with 81 points each, and 30 points clear of their nearest rival, Alfa Romeo.
And yet Alonso insists Alpine can't afford to extend the development of its A522 too far into the back-half of the season, arguing that it doesn't have the means, unlike Mercedes for example, to run parallel development programmes.
"I don't think it's going to be that easy for us," Alonso said, quoted by Motorsport.com.
"They [Mercedes] have a huge organisation and we knew that they will come back sooner or later. For us, it's more a medium/long-term programme when we try to improve as much as they did.
"So I think, for us, it's a matter of starting next year's car soon enough that we don't compromise the next project.
"The big teams, they can start next year's car and at the same time, in parallel, keep improving this year's car. For other teams, this is more of a challenge."
While development at Alpine will follow its budget limit going forward, Alonso nevertheless hopes the team can improve the behaviour of its car in slow speed corners, a relative weakness of its A522.
"I think we feel a little bit down on some corners," he said. "I will say slow speed corners is not our strength at the moment.
"We saw in Baku, with a lot of slow speed corners, some cars were very strong. AlphaTauri finished P5, and Aston Martin was very strong as well. So at some tracks those kinds of teams could come alive again.
"[We need] a little bit of everything. I don't think that we have a weak point in the car that we need to solve, but there are areas to improve everywhere."
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