Currently fifth in the standings, over 100 points down on McLaren and Ferrari, Alpine CEO, Laurent Rossi reveals the team's 100-race project.

While a regular point scorer, Alpine has yet to show anything like the sort of form that might have the teams battling for third in the standings, McLaren and Ferrari, concerned, far less Mercedes and Red Bull.

While there have been some notable performances from both drivers, particvularly Esteban Ocon's win in the chaos that was Hungary, the French team is not looking to make a significant improvement any time soon.

Talking to the sport's official website, CEO, Laurent Rossi admits that taking the team back to the front of the grid was never going to be the work of a moment.

"We have a long-term project," he says, "the objective is to reach a level of competitiveness that places us on the podium as many times as possible in 2024.

"From today in fifth, you can easily find a roadmap," he continues. "It's going to be every year a bit better. It's a 100-race project, four years, four seasons.

"Every race we must make progress," he admits. "It can be progress you see on the track or progress you don't see, all the little details. The idea is to never stop – and be able to see we're going in the right direction.

"Next year, it'll be a coin tossing year. All we want is to make sure we have a satisfactory level of performance when we start, which doesn't put us too far from the top, And then from there, we can carry on our climb to the summit."

"We are here to stay, we are here to improve every year," adds Renault CEO, Luca de Meo. "We are here with an ambition. Alpine is part of one of the biggest manufacturers of the world.

"The story is that Alpine will have a long-term commitment," he continues. "We are planning to transform Alpine in the electric car sports arena. We're developing the product.

"The idea is to build around racing activities a business that would give perennity to the racing activity, so the business would then finance the operation. It will be a system that closes itself. Our performance here [in F1] will give substance to the whole story."

While the rules overhaul should assist in 2022, with no customer teams Alpine (Renault) is missing the vital feedback that Mercedes and Ferrari receive from their partners.

Furthermore, despite that win in Hungary, Ocon needs to raise his game, while the team's approach to qualifying must also improve.

Furthermore, while Rossi and de Meo talk of a "four-year", "100-race" project, it must not be forgotten that Alpine is not a new team, it is the 'successor' to Renault which had its own 'cunning plan'.