Alpine F1 technical director Matt Harman outlines the team’s key development objectives for the 2024 season. To avoid the limitations of the A523, a series of changes will be implemented to this year’s challenger.
When new regulations are implemented into F1, there is a lot to lose and a lot to gain. When the French manufacturer started the 2022 season, there were reasons to be optimistic.
Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were regular points finishers and consistently secured top 10 results – reliability permitting.
Reliability was indeed the biggest astrix on Alpine’s start to the new regulations. Both in qualifying and on race day, the Renault engine was prone to potentially terminal issues.
The team’s engine wasn’t the only issue, though, with software and hydraulic failures also featuring quite prominently.
Last year saw these vulnerabilities persist, which was further compounded by a lack of overall performance.
A lack of top speed often forced Alpine to make sacrifices with setup. This partly contributed to the peaks and troughs shown by the A523 across the 2023 season.
Looking ahead to 2024, the team aims to mitigate this problem:
“I think we got a little bit outgunned aerodynamically by some other cars. We did make some good ground at the start of the season…
“There have been experiments going on throughout the year to try and get to the bottom of that.
“Some of it has been visible. Some of it hasn’t been so visible. We hope to use that learning to try and get a more positive result this year.”
Alpine F1 acknowledges weaknesses
In short, the Alpine technical director acknowledges that certain weaknesses will be difficult to overcome.
The team failed to earn an exception to the engine regulations last year, meaning they cannot improve engine output until 2026.
Still, the French outfit must work to ensure this does not become a limiting factor. If it does, then the next two years could be quite underwhelming.
Matt Harman explained the degree to which engine outfit will be a limiting factor:
“We have the technology and capability to put the power unit where we would like it to be.
“We just ran out of time on the RE22. We were very courageous with that engine.
“OK, it’s a bit behind where we would like it to be, but it used to be a long way behind.”
Author: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
