Planning, planning, or planning. Some believe that even planting. Everything derives in with The Plan that Fernando Alonso championed as a slogan to be in the chandelier, many staunch followers begin to wrinkle their noses.
With The plan the Asturian did not come, see and win, as Julius Caesar did in the 47 BC season after his victory over Pharnaces II in Zela. Today, after five races, he is somewhat gratefully in sixteenth place; a place that does not do him justice due to accidents, breakdowns and penalties, although it is what he has invariably achieved in his results table.
Even Esteban Ocon, his teammate, treasures a position more in line with logic, installed in that ninth place and his two dozen points. In spite of everything, no one should doubt the quality of the two-time champion, but his usual efficiency, his experience in the category, the way he approaches races, and his class behind the wheel should be throwing points over table. For a guy like him to be out of the top five is not to be where you should beand yet both last year and this year he lives far from that situation.
«The success of a team usually takes time to arrive, and as a general rule after clear and recognizable movements occur»
The runner decided to return to F1, attracted by a new regulation that opened the door to greater equality. What was offered as a sales pitch was correctIn fact, it is common to observe a dozen cars within the same second in many sessions. The dilemma for our man is that the applied recipe has not offered the general result that he expected in his meat, at least for now. His entry into ‘the new F1’ that we did enjoy this 2022 was cut short by the pandemic. After two years out of the category, his re-entry occurred in unprecedented technical circumstances.
The 2021 season was one of the fewest tweaks and modifications to cars in decades. Engines and chassis were the same as in the previous season, and the results should change little as they did. The only weight change was a limited neutralization of the capabilities of Mercedes whose firepower could only be faced by the sword of Red Bull wielded by Max Verstappen. In fact the Alpine team was in the same fifth place achieved the previous year, for them nothing changed. Alonso started the season somewhat hesitantly and about halfway through the calendar it began to sing more. The one from Oviedo left the odd pearl, a podium that many celebrated almost like a title, and a few glimpses of the qualities that seem to continue in his pockets. It escapes many that the most applauded plays of his were his extraordinary defenses against the attack of others… when what should happen is that he was the attacker. As in other recent seasons, Fernando was more a protective passenger than a dominant robber, handcuffed by the qualities of his car.
When Luca de Meo, the president of Renault reconverted the formation of Enstone to Alpine arrived with promises of the future in which many believed. Hardly anyone noticed some statements by the then technical manager of the team, Marcin Budkowski. The Pole dropped a laconic “we are very confident in the budget limits”. The phrase went very unnoticed but left a veiled statement in the air (mere interpretation): “We are going to wait until those in front cannot improve, we will catch them.”
This Budkowski, father of the current car, walked out the door at the beginning of the season, which indicates that someone was not happy and what a time to be aware. Another who disappeared from the scene was the counselor Alain Prost, who, although his role was more ornamental than anything else, did not lead a placid march either, but instead left through his mouth and affirming that the current car would not go very far. They have not been the only ones to leave the place. In exchange, others came to fill their still hot seats. It happens that when the puzzle box is shaken, the pieces take time to fit together and this is what may be happening in Alpine, that they take time.
Seen from a step above, the success of a team usually takes time to arrive, and as a general rule after clear and recognizable movements. Pasta hose like the winners, arrival of top-notch engineers, reinforcement of the middle layer of technicians, acquisition of state-of-the-art technical solutions, etc. With things like this, and if they are managed well, in two or three years tangible results can begin to be felt.
Examples? Ferrari rebuilt its wind tunnel three years ago, and last year acquired a simulator from the Dynisma company in exchange for a millionaire: today they lead the table. More examples. Red Bull is developing its own simulator, or at McLaren they are renovating their wind tunnel. All this will end up yielding results. The point is that Alpine works hard and well, its engineers are appreciated, and the work they carry out deserves all respect. But since they lost the yellow to be blue, the arrival of large amounts of money for investments has not been known, renowned engineers have not landed, there is no news of a new wind tunnel or a state-of-the-art simulator, to give a few examples.
This leads to a simple conclusion: same people, same processes, same means… same results. If we add some hypothetical points to Alonso lost due to exogenous circumstances to his driving, his team, currently sixth, could well be fifth after these first five races. They finished fifth last year, and fifth the year before. Echo, echo, echo… To all this we must add one more element: time. The hack theory points out that to win you need three years and to win five, as long as you start from the middle of the table. In that period of time you have to improve inside, change from the persecuting team to the persecuted one, and screw up those who are now ahead. If all these elements exposed before are concentrated in Alpine, maybe in 2025 or 2026 they will end up fighting for world championshipsbut there remains a clarinet that this year is not going to be, and in almost all probability neither is it next year.
The plan
Looking at the panorama, what seemed like a promise for the future is turning into a disappointment for those who expected instant results. And it is very possible that Alonso himself also enters that bag when he encounters limited order growth by his team. It happens that disappointments accumulate in the fans. “The best is yet to come” never arrived. The triple crown already seems like a forgotten idea, or at least tucked away in a drawer that collects dust.
And to top it off, those who understood that The Plan was nothing more than a pen drawing ending in victories are realizing that this year is not going to be either. As a slogan, sales pitch and rallying point for a crowd thirsty for champagne-from-the-podium, it’s magnificent and at zero cost. No one on the entire grid has equal marketing, congratulations.
But patience runs out and many followers begin to deny what they understood was something else, and they are not few. Alonso himself does not know how to explain The Plan when they ask him, and the expectations spun in the imagination of many have only brought t-shirts, caps, and some stickers on the rear wing of a single-seater that did not find a sponsor in the noble zone of his physiognomy. Many believed in the pilot, but forgot his circumstances, and these were not the desirable ones, or at least not the right ones to fit what they dreamed of.
So it’s time to keep waiting. Does the Plan deflate? No, it’s that The Plan was something else. If that drawn on an imaginary napkin then takes you to Aston Martin, Audi F1, WEC with whatever team, or powerboat racing now that you’re going to be captain of your yacht, who knows, and only fate will. will tell. While this is settled, there is a Formula 1 World Championship to see, which is not bad at all…
Photos: Alpine F1 Team