Alpine to test "interesting" concepts in Saudi Arabia

March 24, 2022

The Alpine team made the biggest change to their car between the Bahrain tests and the 2022 season-opening Bahrain GP, where they completely overhauled their sidepods before the first race.

With that modified A522 , its two drivers finished in the points, Esteban Ocon seventh and Fernando Alonso ninth. However, the French team is aware that at least the Spaniard finished in the top 10 due to the breakdown of both Red Bulls , and they need one more step to fight in their own right at the head of the middle of the grid.

In its bid to move forward, Alpine will continue to test parts on its car, and this weekend technical director Pat Fry teased changes to the still-pink car (which won’t be blue until the next Australian GP ).

“Since it’s a low-downforce track, we’ll be using a different rear wing this weekend,” Fry said ahead of the second Saudi Arabian GP in F1 history.

“In addition, Esteban will continue with the latest specification of the pontoons after the problems of last week,” he confirmed in relation to the breakdown suffered in the first free practice session at Sakhir, when part of the side of Ocon’s car was blown up. .

There, there were no spare parts, so Alonso’s teammate had to carry an earlier specification.

“We have a solid base to grow from now and we will continue to learn this weekend. We don’t have any big updates for Saudi Arabia, but we will test some interesting elements in practice which will give us some ideas for future concepts,” explained Pat Fry. .

“We have a development plan and we are making as much progress as we can for the Melbourne race and the following ones.”

Regarding the Alpine sidepods, although it may appear at first glance that they were inspired by the striking Ferrari ones, there are some differences in how the flow is directed towards the rear of the car.

In the Ferrari, that air is conveyed from the so-called “swimming pool” (the gap in the sidepods) to the wings with a high sidepod output, while Alpine, like Red Bull Racing, uses the rear of the side like a Coanda ramp, from where the air is led directly onto the diffuser.

Thus, and after the double result in the points in the first race, what we will see in Alonso and Ocon’s car this weekend in qualifying and on Sunday will be similar to what the two-time champion wore in the first race except for the spoiler rear.

However, the news that will hit the track on Friday will be more focused on the next major update, scheduled for the third stop on the calendar.