Alpine A522

[makecry]

I’m impressed by that rear wing and how shallow it is - looks the shallowest of the bunch tbh. If they can still have the downforce they need to be thereabouts in the first two sectors then it’ll say something about the chassis.

https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/images/mg ... wing-1.jpg

As I thought, that thing is rapid in the final sector and I’m still impressed that they can run that wing and be competitive (excluding Ferrari and Red Bull) over the full lap. Seems like a good upgrade and hope to see Fred get some luck for a change.

I am going to wait till Sunday. If they are very quick on Saturday, I just hope the good ol' tire wear problems don't hit them on race day due to running low downforce. Alpine has performed very well on Fridays but the performance often doesn't carry over in quali. So let's see what happens.

[peewon]

When the lap time gains come from higher top speed in practice, it's either due to a significant PU advantage or difference in engine modes. Paddock consensus is that their PU is not the most powerful by any stretch even if it's not miles off but still they were easily 10-15 km/hr faster on the straights than some teams. Some of that is low drag setup but that performance level is still not likely to hold up when everyone is running race engine modes. Mclaren and Alpha Romeo both usually run fairly conservative in practice.

I would expect them to be on the periphery of top 10. What would be interesting is how their tyre wear holds up in the race

[Blackout]

When the lap time gains come from higher top speed in practice, it's either due to a significant PU advantage or difference in engine modes. Paddock consensus is that their PU is not the most powerful by any stretch even if it's not miles off but still they were easily 10-15 km/hr faster on the straights than some teams. Some of that is low drag setup but that performance level is still not likely to hold up when everyone is running race engine modes. Mclaren and Alpha Romeo both usually run fairly conservative in practice.

I would expect them to be on the periphery of top 10. What would be interesting is how their tyre wear holds up in the race

It seems, Alonso was running a friday engine and he still had 20% battery left at the end of his fastest lap in FP1.
So this big top speed comes from the skinny RW (and skinny/low AoA beam wing in FP2?) and from a PU that doesn't lack power (only 10hp, regarding peak power, compared to the """best engine""" according to the team. And the latter underlines the fact that peak power is the least of their concerns).
The A522 still had good top speed and straight line performance when they put every wing of the car at the maximum AOA in Spain.
Maybe they will try to find a different compromise today by adding some DF and trading some of that top speed for faster S1 and S2 / simply go pack to the FP1 package with the big beam wing.

[RZS10]

[...] that rear wing [...] looks the shallowest of the bunch tbh. [...]

It is the shallowest overall by far, i'd say that the DRS flap is also amongst if not the shallowest one.
viewtopic.php?p=1066379#p1066379

[Blackout]

[...] that rear wing [...] looks the shallowest of the bunch tbh. [...]

It is the shallowest overall by far, i'd say that the DRS flap is also amongst if not the shallowest one.
viewtopic.php?p=1066379#p1066379

Great job again. Can you compare the size of the old and new A522 sidepod intake ?

[diffuser]

I’m impressed by that rear wing and how shallow it is - looks the shallowest of the bunch tbh. If they can still have the downforce they need to be thereabouts in the first two sectors then it’ll say something about the chassis.

https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/images/mg ... wing-1.jpg

As I thought, that thing is rapid in the final sector and I’m still impressed that they can run that wing and be competitive (excluding Ferrari and Red Bull) over the full lap. Seems like a good upgrade and hope to see Fred get some luck for a change.

I am going to wait till Sunday. If they are very quick on Saturday, I just hope the good ol' tire wear problems don't hit them on race day due to running low downforce. Alpine has performed very well on Fridays but the performance often doesn't carry over in quali. So let's see what happens.

Agree. Baku is a low tire wear track, that will not be a problem in the race.

[RZS10]

[...] Can you compare the size of the old and new A522 sidepod intake ? [...]

Roughly 4 mirrors for both



Joking aside both having a similar cross section would even make sense as they'd have to hit their cooling requirements i guess ....

[nico5]

[...] Can you compare the size of the old and new A522 sidepod intake ? [...]

Roughly 4 mirrors for both

https://i.imgur.com/3G7FOr6.png

Joking aside both having a similar cross section would even make sense as they'd have to hit their cooling requirements i guess ....

You're joking but Leclerc tried it on Hamilton in Japan, throwing mirrors at his car

[diffuser]

I saw on the "Weekend Warm-Up | 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix" that they were walkingin a new Floor at Alpine on Thursday evening. I haven't found any pictures...maybe it was just :THE" floor coming in and not a "NEW" floor?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyDpRMKKLx4

[diffuser]

Interestingly Szafnauer said "The upgrades have achieved their goal. Same downforce with less drag" (AMuS) and Fry said "We didnt get rid of downforce" (Sky)...

[diffuser]

Think Blackout is slacking ...

Some pressure sensors inside the sidepod and rollhoop


Alpine tested something else in FP1, inside the gap between the wheel and its deflector (blue)
Interestingly, Alpine seems to be the only team that only uses an air scoop for the rear brakes cooling, while the others either only use an inlet in the gap, or scoop + gap (Alfa, RB)

My Guess would be extra cooling for braking in Montreal.

[diffuser]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU4RVKMWYAE ... name=large

So, according to the team bringing the inlet forwards and making it (possibly to fit w. regulations) square with the flaring bit along the side of the bounding box reduces drag. And it is said to improves 'rake control'; is that outwash, or the car keeping the floor more even during the lap?

The term they actually used was "Front wheel rake control". The aero tubes they install during testing is called a rake. When they put it behind the front wheels they call it "Front wheel rake". So to me this is to better control the turbulence created by the wake of the front wheels.

If you look at Kyle engineers initial analysis of AMR car, which had similar looking air inlets, he said the inlets created outwash, clead up air going to the rear diffuser and reduced drag of the rear wheels.

[AR3-GP]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU4RVKMWYAE ... name=large

So, according to the team bringing the inlet forwards and making it (possibly to fit w. regulations) square with the flaring bit along the side of the bounding box reduces drag. And it is said to improves 'rake control'; is that outwash, or the car keeping the floor more even during the lap?

The term they actually used was "Front wheel rake control". The aero tubes they install during testing is called a rake. When they put it behind the front wheels they call it "Front wheel rake". So to me this is to better control the turbulence created by the wake of the front wheels.

If you look at Kyle engineers initial analysis of AMR car, which had similar looking air inlets, he said the inlets created outwash, clead up air going to the rear diffuser and reduced drag of the rear wheels.

It's a typo in the FIA document.

It should say "Front Wheel Wake control"

[Redragon]

Surprising results

[Redragon]

Think Blackout is slacking ...

Some pressure sensors inside the sidepod and rollhoop
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU9-t0ZWQAA ... =4096x4096

Alpine tested something else in FP1, inside the gap between the wheel and its deflector (blue)
Interestingly, Alpine seems to be the only team that only uses an air scoop for the rear brakes cooling, while the others either only use an inlet in the gap, or scoop + gap (Alfa, RB)

My Guess would be extra cooling for braking in Montreal.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVIygacUcAE ... me=900x900

the only have grills on one side of the top of the sidepods, interesting