Blue, white…pink. These are the future colors of BWT Alpine F1 Team for the 2022 Formula 1 season. The car has just been unveiled live from the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and will be visible on the track during the first winter tests, from February 23 to 25 on the circuit of Barcelona.
A new F1 season inevitably brings its share of single-seater presentations. Penultimate on the list, the French team Alpine arrived with surprises at the Palais de Tokyo, in Paris, on February 21. The firm presented its A522 in two liveries, including an entirely pink one to mark the arrival of its new main sponsor, BWT. She will open the season by participating in the first two rounds of the season.
A new-look Alpine
The regulations drastically changed the style of single-seaters for this year. The aerodynamic appendages are simplified and the arrival of 18-inch rims changes the proportions of the car. The new Formula 1 cars are different and it shows. From the sidepods to the front and rear wing, the work is immense. And very often different from the official model as is the case on this Alpine A522. “Regarding the car, the key for each team is to make the most of the ground effect by having to be as close to the track as possible and to direct the cleanest airflow possible towards the rear of the car. There has also been a lot of work at Viry to produce a new powertrain before its specifications are frozen by homologation until the end of 2025.“, says Pat Fry, director of chassis technology.
TO READ. F1. Teams, drivers, calendar and schedules for the 2022 Grands Prix
Confirmation season?
Alpine, which still takes up the Renault Sport torch, is participating for the 2and consecutive year at the biggest motorsport competition in the world. With a record number of races (23) scheduled on the calendar and an unprecedented car, the team has not been idle. Laurent Rossi, general manager of the brand, is even confident for the future. “We have multiple ambitions. Fifth place (constructor ranking in 2021, editor’s note) is the minimum we should aim for after last year’s performance. So far we have achieved our targets and are pleased with the progress shown, but we need to stay realistic as the cards are reshuffled this year”.
It must be said that Alpine had made encouraging progress during the year 2021. If the beginnings were a bit complicated, the sequel was happier by finishing the championship ahead of AlphaTauri and Aston Martin. Esteban Ocon had won the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of Sir Lewis Hamilton while Fernando Alonso took third place in Qatar. But in 2022, we are making a clean sweep of the past! “Performance in Formula 1 comes down to three things: the people, the tools they work with and the methodologies. We know that the new rules are quite restrictive. We will therefore continue to improve the three fundamental pillars already mentioned with the objective of continuing our ascent.”, summarizes Pat Fry.
Change in the team
Pat Fry is a cornerstone of the Alpine project. The latter was recently promoted by Laurent Rossi and is now responsible for development, performance and the choices to be made on the A522. “Our job is to dig deeper into the wording of each article to see how we can exploit it within the legal framework. The more people you have, the more ideas you can generate and the more ground you can cover”.
He is now working hand in hand with Otmar Szafnauer, new team manager, who left Aston Martin for our national team. “I know a lot about this team, which has always been a fierce competitor in my previous positions. I know how good this structure is and even more how much it can improve. The staff and the two pilots are really qualified, so I’m really looking forward to getting to work”, he explained. Bruno Famin, a former Peugeot Sport employee, also joined the ship as executive director of Viry-Châtillon (94). A place where the nerve center of the team is hidden, working in concert with the Enstone site in Great Britain.
