Harman: Teams have developed cars from scratch

Alpine F1 technical director Matt Harman explained why almost all teams’ new cars have many more different types of changes than there were in last year’s models compared to 2022.

Matt Harman: “There are really a lot of changes in most teams’ cars. Many of them are relatively small and detailed in nature, but they all offer at least a little extra, and together they provide a noticeable increase in chassis efficiency.

But it should be noted that last year’s cars were still largely improved versions of the 2022 cars, and this was due to the teams having to fit within limited budgets. It was therefore necessary to optimize certain parts of the chassis around the basic structural elements.

And now almost all teams were developing new cars, because the technical solutions contained in them will be used next year. But in 2026 we will face a transition to a completely new technical regulation, and the main elements of future cars are still being discussed, and only the next generation of power plants are already under development.

But teams have already started projects aimed at 2026 and are devoting significant efforts to this work. At the same time, it is always important to distribute these efforts correctly, although many are not even aware that each team now has more than one car in development at the same time.”