Franz Tost, Scuderia AlphaTauri’s F1 team representative, explained why copying the extreme “zero pods” of the Mercedes F1 wasn’t particularly effective for Alpha Tauri.
The Mercedes F1 introduced the W13, which has almost no side pods on the first day of the F1 preseason test in Bahrain, and the paddock was in a turmoil.
Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle described the W13’s bodywork as “a bar of chocolate left behind in the sun.”
Eventually, the F1 Bahrain test showed no signs of that, but when rumors of Zeropod first surfaced, it was rumored that the upgrade could be worth up to a second per lap.
The results of the F1 Bahrain test do not show the true pace of the W13, but if the opening round of the Bahrain Grand Prix at the same venue and the next few races reveal that the Mercedes F1 is the benchmark, the rival team Is probably considered difficult to copy the design.
Franz Tost says that basically the whole car needs to be rebuilt to incorporate the Mercedes W13 concept. This is not feasible within the 2022 $ 140 million budget limit.
“It’s not just side pods, it’s just part of it,” Franz Tost told motorsport-magazin.com.
“If you need to change something, you need to change the whole aerodynamic philosophy. Looking at the cost cap, I don’t think we can work on it because the calculations are almost at the limit at the end of the season.”
“You can’t make a completely new car”
Franz Tost is also amazed at the various interpretations he has seen in the pit lane, aiming to improve last year’s sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship with drivers Pierre Guthrie and Yuki Tsunoda, so Scuderia. He said he hopes AlphaTauri was able to interpret the F1 regulations correctly.
“I have to say that I’m impressed with almost every car right now,” Franz Tost told Formula1.com.
“Why? If you look at the side pods and floors, there are so many different aerodynamic philosophies.”
“Honestly, I was surprised because the FIA thought they all looked similar and wrote the regulations so that they didn’t make a big difference. They wanted the cars to come together.”
“But now there are a variety of different solutions on the aero side and the mechanical side (suspension), which means that some teams have found a very good solution, while others may be behind.”
“I hope we can find a pretty good solution and perform well, but that’s interesting and I don’t think anyone expected a different car like that.”
Category: Category: F1 / Alpha Tauri / Mercedes