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Alfa-Sauber is fifth in the world championship. And it is no longer satisfied when only six championship points are scored at a race weekend like the one in Miami. The C42 is capable of more. Alfa must score more points. To achieve this, another upgrade is to be made to the car in Barcelona.
Andreas Haupt 11.05.2022At Alfa Romeo, the Miami weekend showed how close luck and bad luck are in Formula 1. Rookie Guanyu Zhou could have advanced to Q2 had he not made a mistake in his first attempt. If his car hadn't had to be weighed on the scales afterwards, which upset the schedule. If there hadn't been several cars in his way at the back. Otherwise, the Chinese youngster would have kicked out his team-mate. And Bottas would have started 16th and not fifth.
The Finn held this position until the 49th lap. A mistake in turn 17, which had been newly asphalted for Saturday and was treacherous, cost Bottas two positions to his former team. He had braked one lane too late. Worried that the Mercedes would attack him. The C42 was the better car in Miami, but on the results sheet Mercedes was third. The veteran was lucky to be able to continue at all after contact with a wall. In seventh place, he added six points to the team's tally. "The fact that we are a little disappointed shows how much progress we have made this season," said team boss Frederic Vasseur.
Lack of opportunities
Alfa has collected 31 points in the first five races. Twice as many as the second Ferrari customer Haas. And yet they both have one thing in common: they make too little of their opportunities. Haas even more than Alfa-Sauber. The Swiss racing team should have had one or two more points on its credit side. Bottas' engine overheated in Saudi Arabia. Otherwise he would have scored well there, too. Guanyu Zhou dropped two penalties to eleventh place. In Australia, he repeated this result, conceivably just behind Alexander Albon in the Williams. Bottas could have finished fourth instead of fifth at Imola. The team believes that without a botched pit stop, a podium might even have been possible.
In Hinwil, they are aware that they need to make better use of their chances in the next races. Now they have the chance to break away from the direct competition like Alpha Tauri, Haas, Aston Martin and Williams and sail on course for sixth place. And if the development is right, it might be possible to leave Alpine behind and threaten McLaren.
The technical department under Jan Monchaux is working towards this goal. In Hinwil, pull-ups are being made to quickly make the C42 better. Team boss Vasseur answers the question whether there will be new parts in Barcelona. "A big upgrade," the Frenchman exults. If everything is finished according to plan.
Sauber good for a surprise
In the first races, Alfa-Sauber has constantly developed the car. In Bahrain, the main focus was on better cooling. For Saudi Arabia, Hinwil added to the rear brake hoods and the rear suspension. For Imola, they revised the underbody at the front, changed the engine cover and again the rear brake vents.
So far, the updates are working. This is all the more important because the joker of the lightest car in the field will be used up at some point. The competition should also come close to the minimum weight of 798 kilograms at some point. The C42 does not have any major weak points. If anything, it is the fast corners that could be even better - compared to the immediate opponents.
The upgrades are aimed precisely at that - at better performance in high-speed corners. For that, it needs even more downforce. Mechanically, the car is a bank with the pushrod suspensions front and rear. The C42 has good traction and is agile. And it benefits from the good driveability and power of the Ferrari six-cylinder turbo.
Tyre management is also a great strength. Both from the car and the driver. Valtteri Bottas overtook Lewis Hamilton on the medium tyres the longer the stint lasted. By the time the Mercedes stopped, it was already seven seconds. This C42 could still be good for one or two surprises this season.
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Sounds like a large update will arrive at Barcelona, like many other teams. Hopefully it keeps the C42 on pace with W13. The car is a great package as is, so more aero load/more efficient would surely only help
