The Mercedes AMG F1 team won their eighth consecutive constructors’ title in the 2021 season. The Brackley-based outfit has been a formidable force in the turbo-hybrid era, winning every title but one. This season, however, saw an uncanny resemblance in Mercedes’ performance with the Alpine team, and an interesting one.

Alpine finished 5th in the drivers’ championship and they were on an average one second slower than the fastest car on the grid. While the Alpine A521 and the Mercedes W12 are fundamentally different in concept, there was a continuing similarity between the two. Besides speculation, the French team’s technicians went through it and they have deciphered the reason.

The two teams have been pretty consistent in the rankings for the last three years. While the Silver Arrows are topping the standings consistently, Alpine (erstwhile Renault) have been sitting at the 5th spot since 2019. Let’s explore the reasons for this consistency and similar results from two unrelated teams.

Mercedes and Renault kinship

Alpine had a positive 2021 season with a Grand Prix win for Esteban Ocon and a podium for Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile, Mercedes obviously had another dominating season, at least in the constructors’ standings, taking up the top spot once again. Interestingly, the two teams excelled on the same race weekends; notably, Portimao, Barcelona, Silverstone, Budapest, Sochi, Istanbul, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

Similarly, both the teams mostly stumbled together as well, for example, Monte Carlo, Baku, Spielberg, Austin, and Mexico. So why is that? The Alpine team technician tried to answer this question. “We have always been strong on the tracks where the front tire was the limiting factor. Traction was our weakness. And our car didn’t like bumps,” said the French team member as reported by Auto Motor und Sport.

The teams used information from the first half of the season which helped him make necessary adjustments for the second one. It was the case with both the teams. Like Mercedes, Alpine also drove with a chassis that could lower the rear on the straights depending on the downforce in order to gain top speed.

Alpine advisor and F1 legend Alain Prost regrets the team cannot use this information for the next season. “Unfortunately, we can’t save too much of this understanding into next year,” said the Frenchman.

As we are heading into the new season, there can be a shift in the power dynamics on the grid. Let’s see how the next season unfolds. Share your views on the same.

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