It’s race week and this means that the teams are already preparing their cars for the next Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. This race will take place at the mythical Imola circuit, in Italy.
Throughout the season we have seen the difference in performance in the different cars of the teams. On the one hand we have Williams, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas. These four teams are fighting not to be at the bottom of the constructors’ championship.
Slightly ahead in the standings we have McLaren and Alpine. The curious thing about these teams is that last year both teams were fighting for the fourth position in the championship, however, the performance of the two teams has, so much so that they usually struggle to get into Q3 and even to get in the top 10 during races at times.
Then there are three teams in the fight for the second position in the constructors’ championship: Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin. Surprisingly, the British team made a huge jump during the off-season and is now at the same level as the Italians and Germans. However, the team that once again has a dominant car is Red Bull Racing, who are leading the championship by a wide gap to Aston Martin, who sit in P2.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
Many people have commented on the exorbitant speed that the RB19 has. It is no secret that Adrian Newey is an expert in designing these single-seaters that have led the energy drink team to win races and championships, however, absolutely every race that has been held has been won by a Red Bull, and in 4 out of 5 races the result has been 1-2 for the Austrian team. Many people have begun to compare these years with the era in which Mercedes dominated the category (2014-2021).
Alpine technical director says while you must always be looking at the opponents, it’s important to follow your own concept as well and not completely copy others.
“You must survey the landscape, you must keep an eye on what’s going on around you, particularly when there’s cars [the Red Bulls] with the sort of performance that they have, but you do also need to keep an eye on your own development path.”
“I think it’s fair to say if all you do is copy, you’re never going to be at the front. It’s a balance, and that’s what we do, we balance that.
“We take inspiration from these things. The A523 was a combination of our own ideas and concepts — and inspiration from other cars.
“I think any technical director that you speak to down the grid is doing the same thing, cross checking and trying to understand what everyone’s doing.”
When asked if Alpine has any ideas of why Red Bull is so fast, Harman commented that they might now some things but did not affirm anything in particular.
“We have some ideas. There are some things we probably have no clue on. There’s some things we probably have no clue on, because there’s some things that we do they won’t have either.
“I think their ability to run their car the way they do is quite impressive. I think that’s the inspiration to us all. So that’s where we’re moving towards.”
One of the key points that the RB19 has is its DRS. This system is extremely efficient aerodynamically speaking. During the Miami Grand Prix, the two-time world champion, Max Verstappen, breezed by other cars as if they were standing still.
However, the Red Bull DRS system is not something Alpine are following closely.
“There’s a lot of talk about that visually, but I think if you actually dig through the data, I’m not so sure about that. I think they’re very quick in a straight line just generally. From what we see, it’s something that we are not looking to try and understand in great detail.”
