F1 News: AlphaTauri Reveals Huge Upgrades For Abu Dhabi To Chase Down Williams
AlphaTauri introduces a "joker" upgrade for its AT04 F1 car with the aim of closing in on Williams in Abu Dhabi. Team CEO Peter Bayer details the modifications made to the car's floor and emphasizes that it serves as a trial run for their 2024 car.
Taking brave leaps toward the end of the 2023 Formula 1 season, the Faenza outfit has been bringing in gradual and steady floor upgrades, apart from borrowing the RB19's rear suspension for better stability.
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Drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda scored 16 of the 21 points during the Austin-Mexico-Brazil triple-header, which pushed the team from tenth to the eighth position in the Constructors' Championship.
Feeling confident about the upgrades, the team hopes to overtake Williams for the seventh position in Abu Dhabi, as the current gap has narrowed down to just seven points. With an upgrade in line for the weekend, Bayer says that the original goal is a trial for the 2024 car. He told Motorsport.com:
"Everyone's motivated to chase down Williams to the line and we have a big upgrade coming for Abu Dhabi, which we hope will give us the missing tenths to fight for some top positions.
"The original strategic goal was 2024, but because we've put ourselves into this situation now, it comes in handy, so to say that we have another little joker in the back pocket.
"First of all it needs to work, but the data we've seen from CFD and the wind tunnel is very promising and will help us to find more.
"Again, it's all about balance, aerodynamic efficiency and rear downforce."
AlphaTauri technical director Jody Egginton added that the Abu Dhabi upgrade is more of "an R&D exercise." He said:
"It's a floor and it's about learning for next year. It's more an R&D exercise than anything else.
"It was something that was on the plan for a long time, far before we had any view that we might well be fighting for a position in the last race of the year, so it's totally independent of that. It's an R&D exercise.
"With the stable regulations, it's easy to carry things forward and the floor update in Abu Dhabi is part of that.
"It gives you the opportunity to push a bit longer and learn more knowing that next year the regulations are stable."
