Hinwil decides whether to build a new chassis before 2023

In Japan, Alfa Romeo drivers again failed to earn points. Aston Martin is already overtaking the Swiss team in the Constructors’ Championship, and if it continues it could push it off the seventh line – the rivals are already separated by just 7 points. In the last nine races, Alfa Romeo has only earned one point and the rest (51) has been collected in the first nine stages.

The speed advantage, which allowed the team to outperform its closest rivals in races, has been lost. The C42 was one of the few with minimal weight, even slightly below, in the first half of the season, allowing engineers to manipulate the ballast and achieve a more effective chassis balance.

But the rivals gradually reduced the weight of their cars and in this indicator overtook the team from Hinvil, which also faced the problem of high tire wear.

There is another reason for the current situation: at the beginning of the season, Alfa Romeo tried to maintain a relatively high pace of modernization, and this paid off, but then no new items appeared on its cars. This went on for quite some time and it is not surprising that the opponents moved up.

At the same time, the Swiss team’s budget this year was less than many – according to Auto Motor und Sport, about $10 million remains up to the allowable ceiling. However, Alfa Romeo no longer has the ability to modernize equipment, in addition to the production capabilities that do not allow to produce new components quickly enough.

But for the stage in Suzuka, Alfa Romeo finally prepared some serious new items, in particular the nose fairing became shorter, although the team’s car had to undergo mandatory crash testing again. The C42 also received a new front wing and a number of lesser-known updates.

For the US Grand Prix, the team is preparing a modernized floor, although the difference from the previous one will not be too great according to the Alfa Romeo engineers. At least in Suzuka it was confirmed that the nose of the car started to work more efficiently.

“In general, the novelties have made it possible to increase the level of downforce. This provides a better balance between the car’s behavior in slow and fast corners,” explains Hevi Pujolar, the team’s chief race engineer.

Admittedly, she still didn’t earn points, problems arose, both in qualifying and in the race. On Saturday, Ferrari’s hybrid powertrain in Valtteri Bottas’ car did not provide enough extra power between turns 7 and 8. This resulted in a loss of time and the Finn was only 0.053 seconds short of reaching the final session.

Start is Alfa Romeo’s weak point. Bottas almost always loses ground, this was the case at Suzuka where he rolled back from 12th to 14th position. Valtteri finished 15th while his teammate Guanyu Zhou finished 16th.

If they don’t score in the remaining four races, it is very possible that Aston Martin will overtake Alfa Romeo in the Constructors’ Championship, and the difference in prize money between 6th and 7th in the team standings will be expressed in millions of dollars. If she still manages to stay on the sixth line, then in 2023, thanks to the prize money, her budget will almost reach the maximum allowed level.

With the new front wing, we have to keep working, trying to make it work more efficiently, because this key element of the aerodynamic body kit affects all the airflow going to the rear of the car. But on Friday, the weather conditions were such that they had to forget the normal tests of the wing, according to Pujolar. Still, there were signs that the wing was working more or less efficiently.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, as Alfa Romeo’s chassis weight is at the minimum allowable level, the team has not decided whether it is necessary to produce a new one by 2023, or whether the old one can be left out and experimented further. with a more rational ballast placement. And the money saved from this should be spent on modernizing other parts of the machine.

Engineers will have to find the answer to the question, making it possible to add as much as possible? By working with which elements can you achieve the most noticeable speed increase? After all, the exchange remains the same, so no significant changes are expected in the layout and placement of peripheral equipment.

It is possible that Hinwil has already made a decision, but what kind of decision has been made, we will not know in a while. Most likely before the presentation of the new car, which will take place in February.