Alfa Romeo is the first team to offer a first look at a 2023-spec car this season after three disappointing unveilings from Haas, Red Bull and Williams, who presented their new challengers liveries in their 2022 cars.
The Alfa Romeo C43 presents some changes compared with his older brother, which had a magnificent start in 2022 but suffered in the last stages of the season.
Despite the team has unveiled the 2023 version, there is no doubt that the version that will be seen in Bahrain two weeks from now will be quite different than this roll out version.
However, it is always interesting to see in which areas Alfa Romeo has invested their resources to design their 2023 car to analyse which are the new concepts of the car and how they have solved the limitations of the last season.
The rear part of the vehicle is the one that shows more changes respect his previous version:
They have adapted the Red Bull idea of having a greater cooling outlet and moving it to a higher position. Despite increasing the center of gravity, it is thought it could provide a great aerodynamic advantage. It is known that the 22 car presented some bottleneck airflow due to small cooling exits, especially at high speed.
They have switched from push rod to pull rod in the rear suspension. This could be given by the new cooling concept for this season.
To maximise the performance, the beam wing beneath the rear wing has also been redesigned according the cooling modifications.
The new bodywork design is focused on energizing flow of the underfloor of the rear part of the vehicle to increase the diffuser speed and therefore increasing the downforce.
Last but not least, this first version of the C43 includes a smaller louvers than the C42. It will be interesting to see the different updates depending on the cooling needs.
Despite the front suspension concept remains the same, it can be seen the new cooling concept of the radiator inlets from the front view.
The Swiss team opted to keep the push rod geometry on the front axle, a common feature for most of the F1 teams.
The cooling inlet is now smaller compared to its antecessor. It is now thinner and wider to increase the flow underneath the sidepods to maximise the flow speed of the undertray of the vehicle.
A new mirror design is presented becoming thinner to reduce the drag of the vehicle but meeting the new regulations to increase the driver visibility.
Alfa Romeo has added an additional inlet on the top of the car to cool the power unit elements after reducing the inlet area of the sidepods.
For this new season, Alfa Romeo kept the blade roll hoop concept that was slightly modified according to the new regulations.
Some upgrades can also be seen from the top view and side view:
They have included some vortex generators on the side floor to try to seal the undertray to maximise the flow through it. By creating those vortex, it creates a high energy rotational flow that acts as a "wall".
From the top view, it can be easily compared the new "cannon" concept that increases the cooling outlet area.
The C43 also shows a new front wing, even though keeping the same concept. The front wing endplates have been reshaped in this new iteration.
Note the bigger undercut underneath the sidepods to accelerate the flow of the lower body.
As a bonus, a very basic steering wheel is shown in the roll out video. The team presented the new C43 as a process of assembling the different parts of the car to finally obtain the complete version.
This rendered steering wheel is quite simple compared to the last season one, so it is thought they have wanted to hide most of their secrets until the season starts. However, there are still some of the most common functionalities included in it:
Rotary switch selectors for entry, mid differential, torque maps and brake migration
This is the most common approach since these kind of rotaries are easy to change, can be installed near the driver grips and its functionalities are used the most throughout the lap.
Neutral gear selection
Radio Button, usually PTT (push-to-talk) type
Pit Lane speed limiter
Engine Braking map
MultiFunctions switches for setting up the engine mode, strategy or chassis applications
LED lights for revs and FIA Flags
MultiFunctions switch selectors
Special buttons that can be programmed for different applications, for example, the DRS activation
As a conclusion, Alfa Romeo has focused the resources on improving the airflow through the mid-rear part of the vehicle to enhance the undertray and diffuser performance that, since 2022, is one of the major sources of aerodynamic load.
To do it so, they have worked in the new cooling design that led to some other changes as the rear pull rod geometry to meet the packaging restrictions. Also, the greater cooling exits solve the bottleneck problem of those so as to improve the performance at high speeds.
Some work on the side floor has also been shown by introducing vortex generators to keep the floor sealed.
Which feature has impressed you the most?
Which is your favorite livery of the ones that have been already unveiled?
And that's all for today!
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