F1 | Alpine's new updates that didn't work well in Imola might be more useful on other tracks
Alpine did a step forward in terms of updates of the single-seaters, but the Imola circuit didn't reward the engineers. Alonso said that the car is more "balanced" and with more "rear grip" than it was in Bahrain, and Brivio, Alpine racing director, stated that these improvements might work better on other circuits.
The expectations on Alpine, after a good 2020, saw the former Renault team as one of the main forces that would've had the opportunity to fight for the third place in this 2021 Constructors' World Championship, but the first seasonal outings gave a completely different outcome .
The problems for the French team arised during this winter, with the wind tunnel giving some feedback very different from the track results, that forced Alonso and Ocon to have an important performance regression compared to what everyone saw last year.
Aware of a bad start, Alpine isn't just focused on 2022. In fact, a new nose has arrived at Imola with a new front wing attached. This update, according to what Marcin Budkowski said, was already planned for some time, but the team is working hard in Enstone to try to produce other developments to improve the competitiveness of the blue cars.
However, performance has not improved with the new updates in Italy, which saw Ocon and Alonso 9th and 10th at the end of the race, only because of a penalty for Kimi Raikkonen.
“We found some improvements, yes, [and they are] working well, yes,” Brivio, Alpine racing director, said.
“There might be the possibility that maybe these improvements and these upgrades will be more useful also on other tracks"
"But yeah, we’re quite happy, and I think we did an improvement. We’ve come closer [to the cars ahead], I think.”
He also added that there's a consistent difference between the preformances Alpine delivered in Bahrain and in Italy, but he remained vauge in terms of numbers:
“I don’t want to say, [but] of course we have a number,” Brivio said.
“But I think I don’t want to say any number, to not make too much expectation or any disappointment. Let’s see."
“But of course we have a number. We have some feeling of improvement. We feel it’s better, and that’s why we keep going,” he added.
Also Fernando Alonso confirmed that these developments are going in a good direction:
“I think we did improve the car from Bahrain to Imola, all the new parts were positive in free practice,” the World Champion said.
“The things that we tested, they showed us there was an improvement in terms of aerodynamic load in the car, and more downforce in the car."
“Also the balance I think it is better than what it has been in Bahrain, with more rear grip. So overall I think we made a step forward in the right direction.”
