Alpine's situation is one of the most unique of all the 10 teams on the Formula 1 grid heading into the 2023 season.
Last year was a challenging but ultimately rewarding first campaign at the helm for team principal Otmar Szafnauer. No matter what the world threw at his team, they still got the job done and saw off their rivals McLaren in the fight for fourth place in the constructors' championship.
What made that all the more impressive were the challenges which cropped up as Alpine pursued that goal. Their car reliability was not what they wanted it to be and Szafnauer will be thankful that the breakdown of the relationship between Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso came right at the end of the year, rather than damaging their chances earlier.
That's without even mentioning the Oscar Piastri contract saga – if anything in F1 silly season this year even comes close to the drama around the young Aussie's future, we'll be in for a treat. Yet, despite it all, the Enstone team achieved their goal.
The challenge will be to do it again. Teams always want to do better – and Alpine will still want to take steps forward this year – but tangible progress will be monumentally difficult. They will have to do something incredibly special to break up the monopoly of F1's 'big three' at the top of the standings.
From the fans' perspective, the more the merrier when it comes to the number of teams in championship contention. So we'd love to see Alpine or McLaren – or even both, if we're being greedy – take that massive step. Realistically, though, fourth place again is probably the best they can hope for.
If Alpine are to do something special, they will need both their drivers to be on the same page. Ocon will be pleased to no longer be in Alonso's shadow but, no matter how much they play it down, we know everything hasn't always been rosy between the Frenchman and his new partner Pierre Gasly.
They grew up in racing together and were great friends until, as is quite often the case, their individual ambitions drove a wedge between them. Both F1 race winners have said it's now water under the bridge, but they will have to prove that on track over the course of the coming season.
For Gasly, the 2023 season presents the opportunity he has been waiting for. No longer will he be racing with the pressure of the Red Bull system on his shoulders – now he is tasked with proving that he was right in his many declarations that he is ready to be racing closer to the front of the grid.
He will need a fast car to be able to do that, though he surely can't be given anything worse than the AlphaTauri he had to drive last year. Alpine's 2022 car, for its faults, was mightily fast in a straight line, so Gasly will be hoping for more of the same this year with a little more reliability than Alonso had at his disposal.
For Ocon, the coming year is about proving his maturity. While not entirely to blame, he played his part in the shenanigans between himself and Alonso which resulted in Szafnauer having to bang their heads together, metaphorically speaking, and tell them to behave.
The team boss has worked with Ocon for a long time and knows his quality. Szafnauer will be hoping the Frenchman can follow his advice to "make better judgements" when racing with his team-mate, and that they will be toasting another successful season at the end of the year.
