The French brand is the author of one of the best sporting vintages in its recent history, expressing a past subdued growth in the narrative of the 2022 world championship. favor of McLaren. The goodness of the Alpine project, however, goes well beyond the position in the manufacturers’ standings, given that the A522 was the author of often convincing performances, sometimes not materialized in up to standard results due to reliability problems. At Suzuka the team was able to get behind both Mercedes both in the dry in qualifying and in the race in the wet. A goal probably the result of both exceptional conditions and a growth that is no longer ignorable.
“We worked hard for several years before with these regulations we started to have new technologies in the car”, declared the Sporting Director Alan Permane during a long interview on TheRace portal. “What has been done has given us a backbone, a consistent structure for the car”. Alpine has worked diligently in recent years to perfect design methodologies and tools. The organization of work is in fact the basis of success in Formula 1, of which the quality of the technical package and the competitiveness on the track are the natural consequence. “It was an element of great attention for us”, Permane continued. “We are trying to evolve our technologies more towards proactive simulation toolsmaking sure we understand what we’re going to put in the car ”.
Alpine has thus built a strong correlation between the runway, the wind tunnel data and the forecasts of the virtual CFD simulations, indicating an effective representativeness of the design methodologies. The reliability of the aerodynamic analyzes carried out in Enstone is such that for some updates Alpine is able to go directly from the computer to the creation of the piece, without carrying out intermediate checks in the wind tunnel. An efficiency of the development process that significantly shortens the time for the production of updates. Already in 2021 the team had been very active on the development front, with a constant supply of innovations to the car during the current season, a productivity confirmed also in 2022. Since the tests, the A522 has been updated in the sides, an operation that required repositioning of the internal components, without however revolutionizing the starting philosophy, demonstrating the goodness of the analyzes carried out which save the team from having to take expensive steps backwards. The car was subsequently optimized throughout the season, from the sidepods to the bottom, of which new versions continued to arrive also in October.
Another organizational step forward for the team was the better relationship with Viry Chatillon’s engine department, in which the new Technical Director Matt Harman played a central role according to Permane: “Matt spends a fair amount of time at the Viry location, working closely with those guys. We have certainly always had good relations with them on the track. But I suspect that some time ago we were responsible for being two separate teams, with them saying that the power unit was just like that. It absolutely doesn’t work like that now. The engine is not designed in Enstone, but is designed in collaboration, certainly with regard to architecture, for example where the components and other similar aspects should be placed. IS a truly solid relationship “.
The Sporting Director underlines how the intensification of the dialogue between the engine department and the rest of the team has given rise to a power unit whose architecture has guaranteed tangible aerodynamic benefits, confirmed in the wind tunnel. On the front of absolute power instead, PU 2022 marked the transition to split-turbo, the configuration with turbine and compressor spaced with MGU-H interposed, benefiting the overall thermal efficiency. Along the lines of what Ferrari did, Alpine dared a lot in the design phase to recover the gap in cavalry from the top engine engineers, however, taking into account reliability problems that hopefully can be resolved in view of 2023. In the short term, the goal is to confirm fourth place in the world championship, but in perspective the team’s goals are much more ambitious: “We are focused on Mercedes, we want to try to put ourselves on the same level and beat them”concluded Permane.
#Alpine #simulation #engine #secrets #growth #FormulaPassion.it