The AlphaTauri Formula 1 team has admitted that for 2024 it intends to rectify the “error” it made in not taking Red Bull’s suspension right from the beginning of the season.
While Red Bull dominated the past campaign, AlphaTauri began the year struggling with a lacklustre car that yielded only five points across the first 14 rounds.
However, a substantial upgrade package in Singapore – including Red Bull’s rear suspension – and a series of revised floors saw the side rise to eighth in the standings.
AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer admits it was a mistake for the squad to develop its own suspension on the AT04 instead of utilising the solution from Red Bull’s RB19 earlier on.
“The initial decision to go our own way with those critical parts simply was an error, and the people [from] back then are not with us anymore,” Bayer told Autosport.
“I guess engineers always have plenty of arguments why you should do certain things, but I think everybody in the paddock understood now that with this new regulation change and the new downforce pattern, which is so reliant on the floor, the suspension is the next most important thing.
“You’ve got the floor and then you’ve got the suspension. If those two don’t work together, you might as well not go out.”
But Bayer concedes that ensuring any parts provided by Red Bull operate compatibly with the rest of the developments made in-house by AlphaTauri isn’t a seamless procedure.
When asked if the team stood to gain from attempting to outsmart the parent company, Bayer remarked: “I guess that’s the big learning for us for this year, yeah.
“But at the same time, what is tricky for us as a customer is you get a piece, but you have to make that piece work and it’s very difficult.
“Look at some other teams who have hired ex-Red Bull aerodynamicists and engineers, they made some quick gains but then constant development is not as easy as it looks.
“We’ve seen in Singapore something seemed to work slightly better, but we weren’t really sure. And that’s one of the key aspects of [Technical Director] Jody [Egginton’s] team, they put a lot of effort into understanding the global concept.
“How can it be actually possible that this [Red Bull] car is so stable, that it has this ability in slow corners, fast corners, straight-line speed? And that’s where Jody and the guys sort of had a breakthrough moment.”
Amid rumours the team could be sold earlier this year, it was announced that the Anglo-Italian outfit will “use as many synergies with Red Bull as allowed by the regulations”.
Having already taken advantage of that closer collaboration, Egginton has confirmed AlphaTauri will take the front suspension used on the title-winning 2023 Red Bull car.
“Each year on synergy we’ve done something different since 2019,” he explained. “And some years, we’ve done a bit more and done something different, some years a bit less.
“Next year, we’ll carry over our rear end and on the front we’ll take the Red Bull front suspension on the current car. So, we will be one year behind.
“There have been years where for various reasons we’ve done something a little bit different.
“But we’ve got the opportunity to do this and the regulations permit it, so we’ll do it as a number of other teams do.”
Questioned on whether it was a challenge to make Red Bull’s suspension work on its car, Egginton answered: “Yeah, but it’s got a lot of positives.
“We’ll design and manufacture a new chassis for next year, so we’ve got the opportunity to adopt some parts.
“When the regulations change, you have to look at it slightly differently, but we take it year by year.”
