Can Rival F1 Constructors Duplicate Mercedes’ Ingenious Zero-Pod Design?

Mercedes has always been a great player in bringing out innovation. With their new concept of having zero side-pods, the Brackley-based team has taken everyone by storm. The W13’s new transformation has led to the AlphaTauri boss, Franz Tost, recently opening up on the new challengers for 2022.

The Mercedes car grabbed so many eyeballs, that even Max Verstappen took a dig at the challenger saying, “It’s quite ugly”. Despite all this, if the German team now pulls off a stunner in the first race at Bahrain, there might be teams who’d want to emulate the design.

However, this might not be the case for AlphaTauri. The team boss has recently conveyed, “It’s not just the sidepods. That’s only one part of it. If you had to change something, you would have to change the whole aerodynamic philosophy.”

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The new budget cap has further been reduced to $140 million this year. Tost further conveyed, “I don’t think we could make the effort because if you look at the cost cap, we are pretty much at the limit in our calculation at the end of the season. I don’t think we could make the effort to build a completely new car.”

What’s in for AlphaTauri this season?

The team had a good outing in Barcelona during the pre-season testing. Moreover, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly even managed to set the fastest time on the board on Day 1 of the Bahrain test. With both their drivers in fierce form, the team from Italy would want to improve their Constructor’s Championship leaderboard from last season.

AlphaTauri finished in P6 last year, 13 points behind their main rivals Alpine. They clocked up 142 points overall, thanks to Tsunoda and Gasly’s P4 and P5 finish at Abu Dhabi, respectively.

Pierre has been brilliant for the Red Bull’s sister team. The Frenchman picked up 110 points alone last year and has been the standout performer for the team. The former Red Bull driver is still hopeful for a seat at the Milton-Keynes-based team as he continues to deliver impressive performances.

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As the new season dawns, it’ll be interesting to see how much AlphaTauri can cope with the pressure from Alpine. Can they snatch that P5 from Alpine with Pierre spearheading their attack? Only time will tell.