The new technical regulations mean that all the teams have a wide margin of improvement with their new cars and Alpine wants to try and beat Mercedes. To do this, it works on a slimming cure for the A522, as well as aerodynamic developments.
The dispute over the middle group leadershipAs both Ferrari and Red Bull are clearly out of reach from the rest of the grid, it is just as intense as in previous seasons.
The difference is that this year the prize may be higher, since Mercedes has lost a lot of performance and, although he remains one step ahead of the rest at the moment, the course of the season could change that.
“We need to do both, reduce weight and gain performance”
Alpine knows this well and has no intention of settling for the Top 5, at least not yet. To try to stay as close as possible to the podium, the Anglo-French team is already working on two fronts that ostensibly improve the performance of the A522the car of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
Lose weight
This year the weight reduction is possibly the key to a notable gain in performance, as the new regulations – with larger wheels and a safer chassis – have made the cars gain too much and they cannot even reach the minimum weight of 798 kg. marked by regulation.
Many teams have chosen to remove paint from their cars, but Alpine wants to go further and reduce the weight of its car below those 798 kg. to then be able to play with the ballasts and adapt the dynamics of the car to the needs of each circuit.
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“I hope it happens in the fifth or sixth race (Miami or Spain). It’s quite a challenge. Normally, we have a car that puts on ten pounds in the first half of the season because we try to make it reliable,” explains Pat Fry.
“We have to keep working on it. Hopefully by mid-season we’ll be easily underweight. We need to do both, reduce weight and gain performancesince there is clearly time per lap in both things, ”says the Alpine technical director.
Aerodynamics
The British engineer also confirms that Alpine is working on aerodynamic updates for the A522. The first ones, which began to be developed before knowing the rest of the single-seaters, are already in their final phase. But there are more to come that are being developed from concepts seen in rival teams’ cars.
“We have some updates for the next two or three races., all based on pre-competition knowledge. Then, obviously, there is much more after seeing the interesting concepts of the rest, “reveals Pat Fry.
“While we’re doing that, we’ll also try to gain weight back. We are not that far, but you always want to be a couple of kilos below if you can »he concludes.
Source: The Race
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Photos: Alpine F1 Team