Formula 1

ALPHATAURI BOOSTED BY MOVE TO RED BULL WIND TUNNEL

Published

2 years ago

17/01/2021

ALPHATAURI BOOSTED BY MOVE TO RED BULL WIND TUNNEL

(Alphatauri 2021) – AlphaTauri’s move to Red Bull’s wind tunnel will be a significant boost for the Italian team.

“It’s a big advantage”- AlphaTauri rejoices about new wind tunnel regulations, which may bring them on the level field against the top teams.

While the growing synergy between Red Bull and AlphaTauri is a factor, the new handicap regulation introduced this year allows both the teams to use the same win tunnel facility.

AlphaTauri was previously the last team on the F1 grid operating with a 50 percent model in its wind tunnel based in Bicester, England. Confident over the newly imposed regulations, AlphaTauri’s boss Franz Tost feels that this will boost their side’s interests in the sport, and bring them on a level more field against the top teams.

“It’s a big advantage to change to the 60 percent wind tunnel because up to now we’ve always had to work with the 50 percent,” Tost told Motorsport.com.

“The 60 percent is, of course, more accurate and provides us with hopefully more valid data. Then we have the second year of the cost cap, which means the top teams should not be in a position to invest so much more money as we do.”

“I am looking forward to this new regulation, the cars of ’22. Where we are then from the performance side, I don’t know yet because there are many, many different parts which have to be brought together in the best possible way.”

“I hope that our engineering team will be able to do this, and we will compete successfully in 2022.”

Alpha Tauri’s technical director Jody Egginton claims that as much confident the team was about its findings from the 50 percent wind tunnel, the prospect of greater accuracy from 60 percent facility is even more luring.

“Our tunnel is quite good, and we understand it quite well. It’s not something where we can say this has been holding us back,” Egginton told Motorsport.

“I wanted to go to 60 percent, and that was the obvious choice, so that’s why we’ve done it really. It is a challenge. I think any wind tunnel move is not without risk.

“But medium-term, it’s the thing to be doing really. We are the only one at 50 percent, and it was a growing question mark in my mind. So given the opportunity to have a 60 per cent tunnel, we took it.”

“When you’re the last person, the last of anyone doing something, and everyone has gone another way, you sort of think, ‘there’s something in this!’.

“Our goals are to be more competitive. This removed a question mark, so we’ve done it. Time will tell. It’s a case of getting our head around it. We’ve got to get on top of it quickly and understand the wind tunnel.”

“The people are critical in this to make sure how to use the wind tunnel and take advantage of what we’ve got.”