After years of giant killing performances from the Faenza squad, 2022 was one of their worst seasons in a while.
Despite their close ties with Red Bull, who won 17 out of the 22 races, Alpha Tauri failed to make the most of the new technical regulations and slumped to 9th in the constructors’ standings with just 35 points.
Both drivers complained of a balance issue between the entry and mid corner, as the car would often tend to understeer.
The AT03 was quick on street circuits such as Monaco and Baku, where there is a greater emphasis on mechanical grip, however suffered at the high-speed circuits like Silverstone and Spa where aerodynamic load and balance is key to performance.
Technical director Jody Eggington was asked by The Race on the details of the AT04 and commented on the importance of improving the aerodynamics.
He said: “We’re interested in moving the front suspension forwards. It’s a key aerodynamic driver.
“The budget cap really forces you to look at where you get value, and the key point is to make sure that we modify all the structural parts which could be aerodynamic key drivers.”
Increasing the gap between the front wheels and the floor inlet will be a possible development area for teams who were not running at the maximum permitted wheelbase limit in 2022.
It’s crucial to keep the wake coming off the front tyres away from the underfloor as having good clean airflow is important to producing downforce. Having a bigger gap between the front axle and the floor inlet will allow the dirty wake to be kept away more effectively, and allow clean consistent airflow to be fed to the floor.
This should improve the downforce the floor produces and possibly improve the balance issues observed throughout last year.
Whether this will transform the squads’ fortunes is unknown, but it is a step they have taken as all teams attempt to refine their concepts in the second year of the regulations.