The areas each team must address ahead of 2023 F1 development war
The four-week gap following the Australian Grand Prix has allowed many of the Formula 1 fraternity to take some annual leave. But the development arms race doesn’t take time off.
A fallow period on-track belies teams working to sign off upgrades to be manufactured and freighted to Azerbaijan.
With the hole in the calendar meaning fewer races have been run at this point in the year, it allows any new parts to be bolted on sooner and improve performance for a greater amount of time. Add in a cost cap that deters expensively transporting excess items to the Middle East, Australia or Miami and it means that a raft of new components are expected to break cover this weekend in Baku.
Here are the key areas each squad needs to focus on as the 2023 development war kicks into life.
Alex Albon, Williams Racing FW45
Photo by: Williams
Protracted underinvestment will not be overcome overnight. Williams is therefore focused on the longer-term so development of the FW45 will likely be abandoned early while resource is directed towards 2024. Still not having a permanent technical director to dictate a clear upgrade path makes this even more probable.
Regardless, car behaviour on entry to slower-speed corners must be addressed. Progress has been made over the unstable FW44 in this respect but there’s scope to improve. Wayward balance saps driver confidence as they are either too tentative on approach or too often lock up the front tyres.
The GPS data also shows that compared to fellow Mercedes-powered outfit McLaren, the Williams are slow to reapply the throttle to point to a twitchy rear axle. The car also lacks overall downforce. The upshot is a design that’s extremely efficient in a straight line. But too much time is lost when the going gets twisty.
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT04
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
While tied on one point with Williams, analysis of race stints when running the same tyre compound suggests that AlphaTauri is definitively the slowest of the field. The Faenza squad is acutely aware of its shortcomings as evidenced by sporting a reprofiled floor already in Australia.
This resulted in higher apex speeds and tenths gained as the AT04’s poor low-speed cornering habits were partially addressed. The team has attributed messy handling to running too high a rear ride height. This causes the aerodynamic load to drop off under braking to create a skittish back axle.
Using the same Honda powertrain as Red Bull yet failing to match its sister team in the speed traps also suggests excess drag. Both areas will be exposed by the split personality of the Baku layout, which is marked by a staccato first half to the lap before the flat-out final-sector dash to the line.
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
After losing out in the development race in 2022 by not having the cash to operate up to the budget cap, the major new Audi investment should keep the Sauber squad in the game for longer. It will therefore have the capacity to address a straight-line deficit.
The C43 has so far proved trumped nearest rival Haas under braking and enjoys decent medium-speed acceleration - trends reflected across the opening three races. However, it consistently falls behind beyond 165mph as excessive aerodynamic drags begins to differentiate the two Ferrari-powered squads.
This must be refined for Alfa to become competitive in the speed traps. In this ground-effects era, increasing the downforce generated underneath the car would theoretically allow a team to fit smaller front and rear wings to slice through the air more efficiently.