Rossi explains reason for scathing Alpine criticism

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi says his recent scathing public criticism of the French outfit has triggered the right reaction from the latter as its impressive performance in Monaco showed.

Last month, in successive interviews with French broadcaster Canal+ and with Formula 1's official website published just ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Rossi denounced Alpine's underperformance this season, calling out the team's "poor execution" and "amateurish" approach.

In his searing comments, Rossi also warned that he "would not until the end of the year" to make changes if Alpine keeps underdelivering.

Under pressure to deliver, the team reacted positively by scoring a double points finish in Miami, but in Monaco last weekend, scintillating performances by Esteban Ocon in qualifying and on race day carried the Enstone squad on to the podium, while Pierre Gasly added to the team's haul of points with P7.

Asked after last Sunday's race if his brutal review had sparked the intended outcome, Rossi said that it had.

"Absolutely, my comments were just meant to do that," Rossi told SpeedCity Broadcasting.

"To remind everyone that we shouldn’t be happy with scrappy points here and there because we can do better, this team can do much better.

"The remarkable amount of work and skills that were put in in 2021 and 2022 to get the fifth and fourth position was not visible again.

"Not that they didn’t put in the work, but a couple of things were not doing justice to what they’re doing.

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"I think they showed that they can do the work the way they used to and when they do then they score the points.

"So, very good work from the team. A long way to go — it’s going to be a long season. We are still in fifth, which is not our objective, but at least we fight with a decent showing, so this is important."

In Monaco, Alpine sporting director Alan Permane said that the Enstone squad's performance in the Principality was not a track specific "one-off" result.

The Briton insisted the team will carry its new-found strong form forward, and Rossi echoed Permane's view.

"Yeah, we brought some upgrades to Imola which didn’t happen. They probably worked a bit in Monaco but it’s a very different track so we couldn’t really assess the full potential of those upgrades.

"So we’re hoping that they’re going to work also in Barcelona.

"There’s good stuff in the pipeline," added Rossi. "Certainly the gradient of development is not as strong as last year for all the teams because we’re getting more mature around these new regulations.

"Even though we are reaching a bit of a point where we’re starting to max out that area that’s flat for everyone, we were looking for a tenth last year, maybe this year everyone is looking for a hundredth and that’s going to be the key.

"We have plenty of little upgrades coming up until the summer almost at every race. So I’m confident, I know the team can do it.

"They made us proud (in Monaco). They certainly made me proud, so that’s good."

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