After the new W14 presented yesterday, too AlpineFinally, she gives birth to her baby. The Anglo-French team is the latest to show the world its single-seater, in the hope of having forged a means capable of defeating the increasingly fierce competition for the coveted position of 'first of all'.
Alpine's shakedown away from prying eyes, or almost
The French team could not resist the temptation to test the new car even before officially revealing it to the public. Two days ago, on the circuit of Silverstone, Alpine decided to have their car ripped up the tarmac earlier than expected. It's not the first time something like this has happened, just think of Red Bull, which used the same modus operandi both this year, that last year. We don't know what the engineers' feedback was, but what is certain is that stealth is not in the team's ropes. In fact, some shots escaped, and not even of low quality as in the case of Red Bull, which, albeit marginally, has managed in the last two years to whiz around without being paparazzi in high definition… question of a higher speed? Of course not, but the joke fits.
A523: an acronym that rhymes with "evolution"
In the technical-aesthetic analysis, one cannot fail to start from the bellies, the most discussed area, protagonist of joys and sorrows for one team and the other after the regulatory revolution. The machine of the French duo composed by newcomer Gasly and from young but experienced Ocon, goes to deepen the concept of last year. Adrian Newey's genius proposed on the RB18 has been taken up in a revisited key, e the excavation of the bellies that regulates the flows up to the rear is more evident.
Among other things, one cannot fail to underline the other solution, also from the Red Bull school, adopted outside the sidepods. Here, Alpine decides to re-propose the cut that revolutionized the Red Bull season already starting from the tests in Bahrain. The aim: to better manage the flow of air that goes from the central part of the car towards the bulky rear tyres. The bellies mouth and airscope are very similar, if not identical, to the progenitor.
Moving to the front instead, things change. The muzzle turns out in fact more flattened, hooking up to the first element of the front wing. The goal is to favor the passage of air towards the Venturi channels. The suspension scheme has not changed: push-rod both front and back. Closing the technical analysis on the rear, a fin of smaller and more wavy.
Pink and blue, Alpine reconfirms the tune
In terms of livery there are no radical changes, if not one use of carbonwhich has now become the practice at the top of the bellies. The A523, for the sake of the current Formula 1 grid colour, does not abuse the incentive to paint part after part to gain a few grams. Like last year, the Enstone team will debut with the full-pink livery in honor of sponsor BWT, and then move on to the more formal one thanks to the preponderant role of blue.
SOURCE: f1ingeneral; Motorsport.com Italy
