The Red Bull parts AlphaTauri is getting for its 2022 F1 car
Since a closer partnership with Red Bull Technology was formed in 2019, AlphaTauri has been leaning on its sister team to source certain non-listed parts to help boost its competitiveness.
That will again be the case for the upcoming 2022 season, with the “synergy” project seeing AlphaTauri take the gearbox, rear suspension and hydraulics from Red Bull.
However, F1’s new regulations mean that for the first time, Red Bull is committed to building the same-spec parts for both teams.
“For 2022, the areas of synergy are at the rear end - gearbox, hydraulics, rear suspension, which is pretty similar arrangement to what we have had in the past,” said AlphaTauri technical director Jody Egginton following the digital launch of the AT03 on Monday.
“The difference is that, because of the regulation change, both teams will be running the same specification of parts in 2022, whereas before we ran parts to a year-old design from Red Bull.”
While AlphaTauri’s power unit will be badged by Red Bull’s new powertrains division, it will essentially be the same set-up as last year, with Honda continuing to assist both Red Bull-owned teams.
“It is a continuation in many respects,” Egginton explained. “We’re super happy to carry on working with the same guys.
“I think our relationship with Honda has been a very good one. It's been fantastic for the team and we've contributed to some of the successes, so we're happy to carry on with that.
“We've been working with the same PU guys for a long while now and that pays dividends. You know where you are and you understand each other. Any continuation of that can only be a good thing.”
The Faenza-based outfit has also shared Red Bull’s wind tunnel when designing the AT03. It also marked the first time AlphaTauri manufactured a 60% scale model.
“It was a little bit disjointed, as initially, the new regulations were going to be for 2021 so we'd started work a long time ago,” Egginton said of AlphaTauri’s 2022 development.
“Then obviously with the pandemic, it was regulated that we must stop wind tunnel development during 2020 and we re-started it again on 1st January 2021. However, this coincided with our transition to the 60% wind tunnel meaning we had to design and manufacture a 60% model of the 2022 car.
“At the same time, we were also preparing a 60% model of the 2021 car as the AT02 launch spec car had been developed at 50%, but we were moving to 60% for in- season development as it's not permitted to run two wind tunnel facilities in parallel.
“Obviously, this created a greater workload, but the decision to move to a 60% facility was a long-established strategical one, which needed to be delivered on-plan to help meet our medium-term objectives.
“I have to say that the guys did a good job of managing the extra workload and we are confident this decision will provide the expected benefits in the medium term.”
AlphaTauri is aiming to build on a strong 2021 season that saw the Italian team score its highest-ever points tally on its way to securing sixth place in the constructors’ championship, with Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda picking up a combined 142 points.
Despite the added development risk posed by F1’s rules revolution, Egginton believes AlphaTauri is on the right track to continue its positive upward trajectory.
“We've been developing the process of how we work for the last two to three years and we've applied that to this car as well,” he said.
“Statistically and from the results we've had in the last period, we've been reasonably successful, so I would say we're on the right trajectory in terms of how we are operating.
“However, it's not as simple as that as it's a clean sheet of paper for 2022 which provides potential rewards but also carries risk.
“The rate at which the car is being developed is a key metric but an important question is, how far are we down the 'development' road relative to the competition?
"You don't really get to know that until the first race of the season when the gloves come off.
