Alfa Romeo is hopeful that the significant upgrades scheduled for next month at Monza and Suzuka will yield gains on the track of around "two or three tenths".
So far, the Hinwil squad's subdued results this season have left it a lowly ninth in F1's Constructors standings, with the team scoring points in only four of the twelve races held year-to-date.
Alfa has clearly regressed since last season when it concluded its campaign sixth in the running order.
Team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi says the Swiss outfit's results reflect the uninspired performance that marked the latter part of the team's 2022 season.
"We cannot compare this season with last season," Alunni Bravi told Speedcafe. "Last season, we reached P6, which was the best result in a decade for our team.
"But we also did, in the second part of the season, a step back, and so we started from that point.
"And the fight is really, you know, the pack is really tight; Aston Martin did a big step, now Aston Martin is fighting for the top three positions in the constructors’ championship.
©AlfaRomeo
“We expect that the competition will be higher each season. In Formula 1, each year, we raise the bar in terms of technology, in terms of investment. This is a continuous battle."
In a bid to pull itself up the ranks in the coming two months, Alfa will roll out two important updates. And Alunni Bravi hopes the magnitude of the upcoming developments will translate into big performance gains for its C43 contender, similar to what McLaren enjoyed earlier this summer.
"We have a plan already for the season," explained the Alfa director.
"We expect the next big upgrade around Monza, and then of course another important upgrade around Suzuka. So we have our plan.
©AlfaRomeo
"What is important is that we have seen that we need the big upgrades; it’s not enough to have one-tenth,” he added, signaling the gains McLaren has made since the Austrian Grand Prix.
"Of course, where you need to recover, you need to be able to produce upgrades that allow you to do a significant step.
"It’s not micro, little developments, it’s not marginal gains for us. For us, it’s a matter of each time we introduce an update, it must give us between two- and three-tenths.
"This is a challenge because if it will be an easy task everybody will do it."
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