Otmar Szafnauer, team representative for Alpine F1, questioned the design similarities of the new generation 2022 F1 car, “how did the two separate teams come up with it?”
In 2022, F1 regulations were completely reviewed, forcing the F1 team to design a whole new car from scratch.
Otmar Szafnauer, who moved from Aston Martin to Alpine, has seen some F1 teams allowed by the rules, especially in the highly normative regulation of the side pod area. I doubt that he is working more closely than he is.
Otmar Szafnauer does not name a particular F1 team, but suspects that unspecified ideas have been legally achieved in a completely independent design process.
“I saw a few solutions, but how did the two independent teams come up with it?” Otmar Szafnauer told The Race that an alliance team on the grid told the FIA about collaboration. He said he may have circumvented strict rules.
“I don’t know how to solve it, but I think equal competition within F1 is important.”
“But we have to work with the FIA to solve it. As I said, you also saw it and said,’How did the two teams come up with the solution separately? You should be able to think of it. “
“Especially if the rules change. No one should know what the solution will be until you see it. So how did you come up with them?”
“Someday, I think people will look at the machines of other teams and think,’Let’s try it in the wind tunnel,’ but not right out of the box.”
Aston Martin (then Racing Point), where Otmar Szafnauer was until last year, has a technical partnership with Mercedes F1 and will jointly use the regulated wind tunnel only if no data transfer occurs. is doing.
Mercedes F1 will use the wind tunnel on weekdays, Aston Martin F1 will use it on weekends, and personnel will not use the facility on the same day as part of a process carried out to prevent information crossovers. It is divided.
But when people from different F1 teams are in close proximity, there are concerns about informally discussing design ideas and concepts.
These can result in informal sharing of information, transfer of intellectual property by providing various components permitted by regulation, or political alliance in voting matters.
McLaren has been particularly vocal on this issue, regularly reiterating concerns about the “A-Team and B-Team threats.”
Various teams on the grid, including Ferrari’s relationship with customer Alfa Romeo, Haas at various points in the past few seasons, and the fact that Red Bull owns two teams, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri. I am wondering how closely they work together.
The main concern is not just that the supposed B team is competitive compared to the constructor.
Andreas Seidl, McLaren’s F1 team representative, said, “This is primarily a performance enhancement or improvement that Team A has gained through such cooperation, which is clearly an even bigger concern for us.”
“That’s why this problem is really serious.”
Category: Category: F1 / Alpine
