After the fourth round of the season, which saw Formula 1 racing in Italy, at Imola, Franz Tost, team principal of AlphaTauri, commented on the complicated moment that the Faenza team is going through.

According to the former Austrian driver, the AT03 driven by Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda is "two steps behind" compared to its closest rivals.

At the moment the Italian team is seventh in the Formula 1 Constructors' championship, with 16 points scored in the first four races of the season. But after all AlphaTauri is very close to the sixth place now held by Alpine with 22 points, as well as from the fifth place of Alfa Romeo, which has 25 points.

For Tost, the AT03 pays in competitiveness compared to the other cars on the track, which would explain the gap in terms of performance, but there are two other very important aspects to keep an eye on: competitiveness and reliability.

“Currently I would say we are two steps behind, not only one,” Tost revealed to Autosport.com.

“Therefore, we have to catch up, and we should prevent to make such mistakes like [in qualifying] because the midfield is so close together, that immediately you are out.” He added, referring to the situation experienced by the team in Emilia Romagna, where neither Gasly nor Tsunoda were able to qualify for Q2, despite the updates brought in Italy.

it was a difficult day for us on track at our home race, however, there are still opportunities tomorrow and sunday 👊

quali report 👇

— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) April 22, 2022

“If we don't improve, it's unrealistic,” Tost added, speaking to Formel1.de, when he was asked about the goal that AlphaTauri has set, to arrive at least fifth in the Championship this year.

“We have to improve performance as well as durability, otherwise it's not possible.”

“We still have huge problems coming up, or rather Yuki [does],” - Tost said - "He will have to start from quite far back a few times and that worries me already, because that was not actually planned at all.”