Alpine achieved its best weekend of the 2024 Formula 1 season at the recent Chinese Grand Prix following the introduction of its first major upgrade.
“Best”, of course, is a relative term and given his dismal start to the year, that only represented an 11th place finish for Esteban Ocon.
But it at least proves that the beleaguered team is capable of progress.
Only Ocon ran the update package as the team had pushed production to bring forward its Miami Grand Prix finish in early May.
Alpine introduced a new chassis which Ocon used once modifications were made in order to accommodate the new floor, which included modifications to the diffuser, floor edges and a modification to the inner front floor fencing.
The introduction of the new chassis and floor also signified the next step in reducing the weight of the overweight car. According to Pierre Gasly, this meant “a few kilos less and a few more points of support”.
Alpine is expected to hit its target weight – so not just the regulated minimum of 798kg, but below to allow it to use ballast to adjust weight distribution within the permitted window – soon, perhaps. be for the Canadian Grand Prix in June.
Alpine was closest to the pace ever this season in China, with Ocon leading the way. However, Gasly was also relatively competitive in the old car and supported his teammate with a 13th place finish in the race – while outqualifying him in the sprint.
Ocon described the upgrade as “a small step, but not an insignificant one.” However, speaking after the race, he suggested that while the weight reduction provided a clear advantage, question marks remained over aerodynamic performance. And it’s these aerodynamic gains that provide the litmus test of Alpine’s recovery hopes.
“We have to dig into exactly what was better,” Ocon said. “Of course the weight was an improvement. For the rest, we need further analysis to see exactly whether this brought a clear performance benefit. Both cars were in good condition this weekend, [so] we have to see.
The upgrade was described by performance technical director Ciaron Pilbeam as “part of our routine aerodynamic development” rather than the result of changes made after a dismal start.
Although it has not yet scored a point, Alpine is aiming to regain sixth place in the championship this year. While this is still below what one would expect from a working team, given their starting point, it would be an acceptable recovery.
Gasly believes the team can now at least compete in the middle of the pack, based on what he has seen from the improved sister car and his own performances.
“That is indeed the case, whereas in the first races we felt behind and we couldn’t really attack,” Gasly said in China when asked by The Race if he thought Alpine would at least leave race.
“It only gets us a few tenths, which means we can be slightly closer and a little more in the mix.
“On days like today, we’re not that far from the end of the points. The gap is big compared to the top five and it looks like, at least over the next few months, we will be fighting for small points.
-Gary Anderson’s verdict on the changes
Alpine arrived in China with a much-needed first update of 2024. It may have only affected one car, but in reality it was kind of invisible anyway.
Ocon, with the upgrade, and Gasly, without the upgrade, were in close competition this weekend, so there is clearly no silver bullet for Alpine’s woes this year.
What we can see is mostly on the outer edge of the ground. We never see underneath these cars, so it’s hard to know if there have been many changes underneath.
The orange arrow on the old style shows that Alpine has reduced the camber of the longitudinal side section of the wing as it goes rearward.
She also redistributed the mounting brackets represented by the red ellipse, reducing them from four to three. It is very easy for these fixtures to disrupt the actual airflow and reduce the potential for flow structure development.
The red arrows show the flow on the upper surface of the soil and how it works in conjunction with this small upturned section of the soil, highlighted by the yellow arrows.
These work together to collect as much flow as possible under the front corner of the floor, letting the diffuser increase the speed of the flow entering the leading edge of the floor, closer to the middle of the car.
As this flow heads backwards it is pulled through this longitudinal slot which helps to seal the floor creating a vortex which catches the flow, highlighted by the blue arrows coming out of the subfloor . He also added a small conduit to allow this flow to be sucked inside the rear tire.
This is related to something called tire throw – essentially the flow that is displaced inside the tire as it spins across the track surface.
In turn, this flow will attract more of the airflow highlighted by the green arrows, over the section of ground just in front of the rear tire. This again reduces the amount of airflow drawn towards the ground.
There is also a small profile change in the splitter on the front floor edge cutout, highlighted by a magenta arrow.
This change will likely create a more intense initial vortex to get the entire flow structure working at the ground edge as soon as possible.
As with the rest of the floor, Alpine has also modified the distribution of incoming flows under the leading edge by modifying the profile of the interior splitter.
I highlighted the old and new interior divider with a red line to improve its visibility, since it is hidden by the triangle legs.
In reality, the separator is behind these components. This will again reduce the mass flow in this central section of the floor, so with the same diffuser detail the flow from front to back will move faster. Increasing its speed will in turn increase the downforce created by the subfloor.
It’s probably too early to assess if this is a step forward, so we need to give Alpine a few races to optimize it, then we can see if its development path is going in the right direction or if it will have to be a little more adventurous.
