Alpine fear upcoming changes to floor rules will suit the bigger teams

Alpine suspect the FIA-implemented changes to car floors will suit the biggest teams more than their smaller rivals.

Confirmation has now been issued by the FIA about what each team must adhere to regarding the floor, the aim being to eliminate porpoising which has been such a prominent feature of the 2022 season under the new F1 regulations – with drivers enduring painful rides as a result.

Measurements will be taken from the Belgian Grand Prix and safety checks made in relation to the stiffness of the plank and skids around the thickness measurement holes, while for 2023 the floor edges must be raised by 15mm and the diffuser throat height raised.

As teams have experienced different levels of porpoising, it will inevitably mean more work for some than others – although all 10 will need to ensure they comply with what is being set out by the FIA.

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Alpine’s chief technical officer Pat Fry thinks the most powerful teams – Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari – will be able to draft in extra resources if necessary, which is a luxury some of the others may not be able to afford under the conditions of the budget cap.

“For us it’s engineering resource, we’ve clearly got a lot smaller aero department than the three [teams] above us and the one we are fighting with [McLaren], they are all bigger than us,” said Fry, quoted by Motorsport.com and speaking before the rule tweaks had been announced.

“They might have 20 people parked outside the cost cap doing sailing or push bikes, but they can quite easily drag them back in to hit a problem and then send them away again.

“So when you’ve got that level of extra capacity, they have a huge advantage. Delaying the rules for them is great because they know all the small teams won’t be able to cope.”

Fry expanded upon Alpine’s position regarding resources and said that while the team are “growing and getting better”, they remain “sensibly sized” – and had not experienced the “massive overspill” of some rivals which had seen staff switched to other projects outside of F1 due to budget cap constraints.

“It’s a little bit challenging for us,” said Fry, again ahead of the rule changes being clarified.

“The sooner for us to know [about the changes] the better really because if it’s going to change, we will tear up what we are going to do already.

“I’m sure every team is running some number of weeks in the wind tunnel for next year’s car concept anyway. We certainly are.

“But how much of that work we’ve actually done is going to get changed with a rule change.”