Alfa explain loosening of Ferrari technical ties

Henry Valantine
Jan Monchaux answers questions about the Alfa Romeo C42. Jeddah March 2022.

Jan Monchaux answers questions about the Alfa Romeo C42 during a show-and-tell session. Jeddah March 2022.

Alfa Romeo are taking fewer elements from Ferrari than in previous years, and technical director Jan Monchaux feels that’s the right direction for the team.

Alfa Romeo use Ferrari power in their cars and had previously used an increased range of their parts on their car, but they now only use the transmission and power unit provided by the Scuderia, as they become more independent in their operations.

The Hinwil-based team have had a significant upturn in form at the start of 2022 compared to last season, in which only Haas finished below them in the Constructors’ Championship. So much so, that team principal Fred Vasseur thinks they are now in a “different world” to what came before.

Monchaux highlighted that their extended independence has come for multiple reasons, not least to control their own spending in a new budget cap era, but for their own freedom as well.

“We don’t use anything from Ferrari other than the power unit and transmission,” Monchaux said on Tech Talk on F1TV.

“We’ve reduced the scope of supply, developing our own fuel tank, our own outer structure for the gearbox and our own rear suspension.

“This is all for two reasons. The first is for the budget cap, because it’s better for us to go in this direction.

“It also gives us a little more freedom in this first season to develop our concept without being constrained by the work of our Italian friends.”

Alfa Romeo recovered from a torrid time in the opening pre-season test in Barcelona to get more representative running under their belts in Bahrain, and the underlying pace of the car is such that Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have been in and around the top 10 in both races so far.

 

Bottas has spoken of his happiness with the move so far, telling People: “I feel people are working harder than ever. That’s the feeling.

“Because we know that it’s so close now between the teams, it’s still in the early days [of the season], and if you can make progress, it’s actually going to show immediate results.

But you almost have this fear, as well, that you don’t want to go backward. You want to always progress, and that makes people work hard. And the same for me. It’s a joy to put the effort in, to try and progress with everything. I really feel like I’m in a good place now.”

 

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