Alpine surprises with its pontoons in Baku

Otmar Szafnauer, Alpine Team Principal, advanced in Baku the French team will present “several circuit-specific aerodynamic updates before implementing the next round of improvements as part of our development plan for 2022”. He seems to be referring to small changes to the car to adapt the performance of the single-seater to the needs of the circuit, although few expected such a big change that the French team finally made to the pontoons the car presented. this Thursday. in the pit lane of F1 Azerbaijan GP.

Alpine showed some shortened pontoon at the bottom, copying the bet made by Red Bull at the start of the course, although this time, taking this concept beyond the limit, with a strong lower cutout below the larger and more shaped air intakes. and straighter lines.

In addition, Alpine also enlarged the side gills. All these changes seem to have a clear direction: to increase engine cooling on a track where the propellant is extremely important because of the long straight to Baku. Szafnauer warns: “In Baku it’s important to have a high top speed to be competitive in the long straight.” It is necessary to see if this update is only for maximum speed tracks, or it is here to stay. So far, the official version of Alpine is that the novelties of the package are yet to come.

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You have to remember that otmar He told the Spanish press in Barcelona that, apart from the new floor being launched in Monaco, which they will take on almost four races before another floor arrives, it is yet to come. “an evolution of bodywork and a new engine hood”.