Thread by @JunaidSamodien_

AUTO MOTOR UND SPORT - Alfa Romeo brought the biggest upgrade to Melbourne with AlphaTauri. Nevertheless, they slipped backwards rather than moving forward. The C43 has no brutal weakness - but also no real strength.

In Australia, Zhou scooped two points that were more down to the chaos than actual race speed. It is already clear that Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin and Ferrari are out of reach. Before the third Grand Prix of the season, Alfa Romeo still saw themselves as equals with Alpine.

However, Alpine increased the pace in Melbourne and even McLaren and Williams drove away. Alfa Romeo argued with AlphaTauri for the red lantern.

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It was precisely these two teams that modified their cars the most. Alfa Operations Manager Xevi Pujolar reported: "The upgrades are working as we expected. With the new front wing, the overall balance of the vehicle is slightly better."

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The innovations, which include a longer nose and modified exterior mirrors in addition to the front wing, were planned well in advance.

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The front of the vehicle passed the crash test that was due a long time ago. The engineers deliberately started the new season with the old nose and the corresponding wing. For two reasons: First, there was an upgrade in this area late last season (Japanese GP).

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They wanted to draw on this for as long as possible so that the development would pay off better under the budget cap.

Second, the engineers initially focused on the areas that promise more lap times under the current rules: the floor and the rear.

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"Lap times were still hidden in the front area. That's why we've now made changes in this area," explains Pujolar.

With a strong start, Alfa Romeo laid the foundation for a successful season last year. They didn't come out of the winter break that well this year.

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After three races, Alfa Romeo takes eighth place in the constructors. Compared to the previous year, the yield has shrunk from 13 to six points after three Grands Prix. Nothing is lost yet.

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In Hinwil, the aim is to repeat sixth place in the championship. He's only two points away. Even McLaren, fifth in the World Championship, has only doubled the number of points.

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In order to make progress, the car has to get better – and both the team and the driver have to improve. The development during the season was not one of the strengths of the Swiss squad in 2022. Others produced new parts faster. In 2023, an increase in this regard is needed.

Because McLaren has announced that it will put together three large packages. The first of these is set to debut in Baku. Before the summer break, McLaren wants to follow up with a kind of B version. So there are bigger leaps ahead.

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AlphaTauri has set itself the goal of aggressive development. There should be five or six different versions of the floor alone.

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Williams has a good car, especially on fast circuits, as seen last time in Melbourne. The team with Alexander Albon in the car was clearly faster than the Alfa. Haas is better positioned for one lap right now.

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The qualification is so far a sore point for Alfa-Sauber. This is shown by grid positions 12 and 13 in Bahrain, 12 and 14 in Saudi Arabia and 17 and 19 in Australia. Whoever qualifies higher up can swim better in the race. The Alfa driver, on the other hand, are stuck in traffic.

Zhou was stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda in Australia. He had hardly overtaken the Japanese when he let Kevin Magnussen take him by surprise in the Haas. The track Down Under revealed a weakness of the C43. It took too long for the drivers to get the front tires up to temperature....

[....] on a cool and slippery asphalt. In Jeddah there was the same problem - with qualifications. The higher asphalt temperatures helped there.

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The smallest deviations throw the Swiss racing car out of step. "In the third practice session it looked as if we would have a chance of Q3 with both drivers," said Pujolar in Melbourne.

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In any case, the engineers found: "In qualifying, our drivers no longer felt the front axle properly. They found it more difficult to get the laps together."

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"In the midfield, everyone moves within a few tenths. If you weaken there, you're at the rear end." Conclusion: "We looked worse than we are in Melbourne."

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If you mess up the set-up, choose the wrong tyres, don't hit the tactics and make driving mistakes, you're not fighting for points in this Formula 1, but in the second half of the table. In any case, the front positions are occupied by two Red Bulls, two Mercedes, two Aston....

[....] Martins and two Ferraris. For the rest - if everything goes normally - only the small points in places ninth and tenth remain. And after Australia, it even looks like Alpine will bag the last remnants.

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Alfa Romeo runs the risk of having to rely on the inability of others to score themselves. Alpine wants to increase by six tenths of a second with new parts by the summer break. Hinwil has to resist. "The next updates are already in the pipeline," says Pujolar.

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Alfa wants to bundle larger packages instead of constantly popping up with smaller innovations.

Spain is holding on. "We don't have a specific weakness. With the new front wing, our car comes together better."

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"Our deficits compared to the fastest are not limited to slow or fast corners. We need more downforce in general." And maybe just more time to understand the updates and adjust the rest of the package to them via the setup.

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The practice sessions in Australia were affected by the failure of the GPS and the rain. This shortened the travel time considerably.

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However, Alfa Romeo has identified an obviously sore point. "Others gain more speed when the DRS is activated. That helps them especially in qualifying." And when overtaking. Bottas could become a problem. To outsiders, he looks like a shadow of better days.

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Zhou is on the right development path, according to the team. The Chinese generally exudes more self-confidence than in his debut season. He gets along better with the car and the tires: "All he lacks is a real sense of achievement."

FULL STORY HERE auto-motor-und-sport.de/formel-1/alfa-…