Ahead of the 2024 Mexico Grand Prix, Ciaron Pilbeam, technical director of performance at the BWT Alpine F1 Team spoke about the team’s recent upgrades to Pierre Gasly’s A524 which saw the French driver qualify seventh at the United States Grand Prix, ahead of the likes of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, and Red Bull Racing’s Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez.
Pilbeam stated that the upgrades, which, according to FIA United States Grand Prix Document 6, included changes to the floor, engine cover and rear win of the A524, had performed as expected according to collected data and as demonstrated by Gasly’s lap time performance.
“Yep, everything that we saw from last week, as you said, we had the new package on one car and everything that we saw showed that it’s performing as we expected it to in both data and lap times, as far as we can tell.”
While he stated that the overall performance of the A524 had improved, he acknowledged that the most significant improvements had been seen in the car’s handling of downforce. However, he added that improved balance had been noted as well.
“It’s a bit of everything. A decent step of downforce, that’s probably the most significant part of it.
“Some details as well that were a bit nicer about the balance that it brings.”
When asked why Gasly’s performance in the car appeared to suffer when he was put onto the hard compound tyres during the race, Pilbeam stated that the team had some ideas but was still working to identify the exact cause. While he lamented the “ultimately disappointing end” to the United States Grand Prix after Gasly’s “very promising” qualifying performance, he acknowledged that the A524’s slow pace on the hard compound tyres had been the most detrimental factor to the driver’s performance. However, he admitted that Gasly’s slow pitstop had further hurt the driver’s overall performance.
“We have some ideas. The race started well obviously. We had a slow pit stop which didn’t help but the real problem on Pierre’s side was the pace on the hard tyre, as you said.
“We do have some ideas that we’re still working through at the moment, but it was a disappointing end to a very promising qualifying session.”
He was also asked about the role that the team’s strategy, particularly their decision to pit Gasly early to cover Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, had played in determining the outcome of Gasly’s race. While Pilbeam acknowledged that the team could have done some things differently, he stated that he doubted that the outcome of the race would have been much different, highlighting that Gasly had been most affected by his A524’s lack of pace rather than any strategic decision made.
“It’s a tricky one. We have reviewed the strategy, we do that every week and coming back, I think, to the point that our real problem was pace, not strategy.”
“We could have done some different things, but I think the outcome might not have been that different.”
He added that, despite the driver’s dissatisfaction with the decision, he believed that it would been a “brave call” to not have Gasly cover Magnussen during the race, especially as the Alpine driver had been “in a decent position” ahead of many rivals.
“You do have to pick your battles, and at the time, Pierre was in a decent position ahead of quite a lot of cars and it would have been a brave call not to cover Magnussen, I think.”
Regarding the upgrades that had been brought ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Pilbeam said that they had been similar to the ones that the team had brought ahead of the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.
“It’s similar to the one we had earlier in the year.
“Yes, in Shanghai.”
While Pilbeam acknowledged that Alpine had not brought significant upgrades to the A524 as consistently as other teams, he stated that this was at least partially due to the team opting to take more time to ensure that the upgrades suited the A524, noting that their upgrades throughout the season had all performed as expected, in contrast to some upgrades brought by other teams which had proven detrimental to their performance in some races.
“I think you’re right, the upgrades that we brought this year have all delivered, I think, as expected.
“So that’s promising because we’ve seen one or two teams later in the year having some question marks about some parts that they’ve brought.”
However, he denied that the team’s comparatively slow introduction of upgrades to the A524 was not the result of technical changes introduced earlier in the season or “anything in particular”. He highlighted that the team had maintained their habit of introducing their upgrades in a “fairly consistent pattern” and claimed that this method of introducing upgrades had proved effective for the team as he could not remember having to remove an upgrade in recent memory.
“I don’t think it’s a result of anything in particular.
“I would say over the recent years that’s been a fairly consistent pattern. I don’t remember taking an upgrade off the car recently at all.”
He explained that the relatively uncompetitive state of the A524 at the start of the season had put Alpine at a disadvantage as while they had been taking steps to improve their A524, they had been forced into a position where they had to try to catch up to the other teams which had also been rapidly upgrading their respective cars.
“It’s just from where we started the year, the steps are coming but everyone else is making steps as well and it’s just trying to catch up, not just keep up and that’s the position we’re in at the moment.”
When asked if the Enstone-based team’s developments throughout the season would result in the 2025 car looking visibly different due to the incorporation of the top-performing upgrades from the 2024 season, Pilbeam stated that he did not know what the car would look like as it was still in development. However, he added that he believed that the majority of the cars’ development was not visible and emphasised that the team would be prioritising performance-related improvements going into the new season.
“I guess a lot of the development that we see on the cars is not visible. A big part of what we did last week was underneath and you can’t see it.
“I guess the edge of the floor is quite a visible thing that everybody’s playing around with a lot at the moment.
“To be honest I don’t know what next year’s car will look like yet because it’s still in the tunnel, but it will be a development but obviously we’re hoping for a decent step of performance over winter or even before if we can. As soon as we can, we’ll get it on the car.”
When questioned further about his comment that most of the work done on the A524 was “unseen” due to it being underneath the body of the car, one of Alpine’s technical directors confirmed that while the work done was to the floor and body of the A524, the processes of attaching the components to the car were “fairly major.”
“It’s a big change.
“The change is the floor and the bodywork but what’s involved in attaching it to the car is fairly major.”
He highlighted that errors or flaws within these processes could prove detrimental to the car’s performance and stated that he believed that rival Mercedes had possibly experienced such issues which had ultimately compromised the team’s performance across the race weekend.
“I suspect that’s the problem that Mercedes ran into last week.”
When asked if both Alpine drivers would be running the upgrades for the 2024 Mexico Grand Prix, Pilbeam replied, “This week, yes,” and confirmed that both Alpine cars would be in the same aerodynamic specification for the weekend.”
“Yes, the cars are in the same aerodynamic spec for this weekend.”
With just 13 points from the past nineteen race weekends, Alpine, which currently sits ninth in the 2024 World Constructors’ Championship, will be hoping to replicate Gasly’s strong qualifying performance during the United States Grand Prix to hopefully earn a few more points in their battle for eighth place.
