The Formula 1 Alpine team is in doubt.  Alpine was expecting to make a big step forward this year due to the change in regulations, but according to the Spanish press, the team is not completely satisfied with the performance of its new car.

Quoting one of their sources working at Alpine, the Catalan newspaper, Mundo Deportivo wrote:

“Fernando is a very good driver. But the car is not up to the task. He still lacks a lot of speed.”

When asked about the subject, the two-time world champion preferred to ignore it.

“At the moment I can’t say whether I’m satisfied with the new car or not. We have just started working with it. The team has made progress with the powertrain and we will see what happens.”

Pointing the finger somewhat at the team’s focus on reliability over outright pace last year, Alonso explains where the team needs to be this year to satisfy saying: “It is very important to maintain our reliability.”

“Last year this was one of our strong points and the car finished every race without any problems. So this year we will have to combine competitiveness and reliability.”

Perhaps what is most concerning for Alonso fans is the managerial restructure at Alpine which resulted in the removal of advisor and four time champion Alain Prost. Invariably with upper management restructure, the team below underperforms until a period of stability is in place. This won’t be a good year for Alpine.