F1 News
'That's the only upgrade guaranteed to make a car faster'
- GPblog.com
Alfa Romeo seems to have lost the advantage it had at the start of the season. The Swiss team's car was right at the right weight of 798 kilograms at the start of 2022. Meanwhile, most other teams have become considerably lighter, while Alfa Rome o has not lost weight.
Alfa Romeo started the 2022 season incredibly strong. In the first nine races, 51 points were scored. In the seven races that followed, just one point. The biggest problem for Alfa Romeo seems to be the lack of upgrades to the car.
Alfa Romeo was first to be at right weight
While most teams keep coming up with new updates to reduce the weight of the car, the C42 has not become lighter. The lighter car was Alfa Romeo's big advantage at the start of the year, but that advantage seems to have disappeared completely. "Depending on the savings, that's three to four tenths of a second that others have become faster," says team boss Frédéric Vasseur according to Auto, Motor und Sport.
"Less weight is the only upgrade guaranteed to make a car faster," the Frenchman continued. What is also an issue for Alfa Romeo is reliability. Added together, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou have already crashed out eight times this season and have already suffered grid penalties for swapping parts.
Upgrade in Japan
Vasseur says he is happy that both cars are now equipped with new engines. Alfa Romeo hopes to come up with another major aerodynamics package before the final races of 2022. This upgrade is currently scheduled for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.