(Motorsport-Total.com) – Is the AlphaTauri AT04 at Silverstone actually the same car as at Spielberg a week ago, or is it really a B version? The question is justified: the Italian Formula 1 team has modified its car extensively for the race weekend in Great Britain, more than any other racing team in the field. But the first results about the new package are sobering.
Nyck de Vries in an extensively modified AlphaTauri AT04 at Silverstone 2023
AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda said bluntly after Friday practice at Silverstone: “So far we haven’t been able to see results that we’ve improved significantly, because we were at the bottom of the second practice session.”
And this is no exaggeration: Tsunoda and Nic de Vries finished 18th and 19th in the second free practice session at Silverstone out of 19 drivers who took part in the session. The gap to the top was over 1.4 seconds each, to Kevin Magnussen in the Haas VF-23 immediately ahead of it being 0.044 seconds, to the top 10 by over three-tenths.
So it didn’t seem like Tsunoda had high hopes. He only says: “Now we have to look in detail at what we can improve. Because we’ve had some problems so far. We’re lacking in pure performance at the moment.”
De Vries shares his teammate’s impression. In particular, the second free practice session at Silverstone was “rather tough”. “We don’t really know why yet. Especially since it was really good in the first training session.”
In fact, the result of the first session looked much friendlier from AlphaTauri’s point of view: De Vries was 11th, about 1.1 seconds behind, and Tsunoda was 16th, 1.5 seconds behind.
Where AlphaTauri loses most of the time
The ‘F1 Tempo’ analysis shows where the team loses the most: in slow corners. Turn 4 before the Wellington Straight, turn 7 just before home and turn 16 as the entrance to the chicane before the start and finish proved toxic to the cars of Tsunoda and de Vries. Additionally, AlphaTauri is being left behind on the straights.
According to Tsunoda, the latter isn’t surprising, but it’s a trend he’s noticed for weeks: “We have a lot of air resistance. That’s why the top speed on the straights is really bad. And at the same time, we don’t have that much downforce. And that’s the problem.” : If you want more downforce, you also get more drag.”
In Austria, in “probably the worst race of the year”, the AT04 was again found to be “a little missing all around”. All more Tsunoda longs for the Silverstone update. “We have an opportunity to refocus,” he explains.
And at first there seemed to be a lot of signs of improvement: “Based on the data and in the simulation, I felt pretty good,” says Tsunoda. So he went into the weekend at Silverstone “optimistically”, but already confirmed on Thursday that the real acid test would be Friday training.
Silverstone update in detail
And so AlphaTauri faces a question mark on Friday evening: Does the technical update on the AT04 meet expectations or not?
Perhaps the sheer volume of new parts is a problem. Since AlphaTauri has made significant changes: from the bottom to the diffuser, hood and rear wheel suspension to the rear wing and beam spoiler, everything has changed on the car.
In all cases, the team simply cites “performance” and “local downforce” as the main reason for the modifications. In other words: As Tsunoda described it, the race team is looking for more downforce at every turn. This is why a new spoiler appears on the rear upper wishbone, why the main profile of the rear wing is more sloped into the wind, and why more air now flows down the body.
What AlphaTauri plans to do to qualify and race
What could be in it? Tsunoda doesn’t want to promise too much: “If we can [im Qualifying] In Q2 and I finished 11th then I’ll be happy. Of course we’re dealing with Q3. But first of all, it’s important going into Q2 at all. This is the goal starting from the second training session.”
In the race, he intends to drive “towards the points,” the AlphaTauri driver continues. “But the first step now has to be to get as much performance out of the car as possible.”
According to de Vries, it will probably only become clear in the qualifiers where the team is with its updates, “when everyone gets to the point,” the Dutchman said. Plus, we’re not the only ones with updates.
De Vries wasn’t the only driver to suffer a puncture in Formula 1 practice on Friday. This previously happened to Fernando Alonso in an Aston Martin, and finally to the AlphaTauri guy at the end of the second practice session. He has no explanation for this: “We don’t yet know exactly what happened.”
De Vries’ future is unclear
It is also unclear how firmly de Vries is still in the saddle at AlphaTauri. The former Formula E world champion has come under fire on social media and is said to have feared for his cockpit.
Red Bull’s sporting director, Helmut Marko, is doing little to dispel the speculation. When asked by Fiplay if de Vries would start his home race in Zandvoort, Marco replied: “I can say that as soon as we get to Zandvoort.”
He admits: “We’re worried. It’s no secret that he’s not performing as well as we expected him to. Formula 1 is hard work.”
Marko continues: Red Bull and Alpha Tauri should think about the future. “[Deshalb] We evaluate its performance. And if necessary, we make decisions. “It’s not a clear commitment to de Vries.
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