Alfa Romeo arrived at the Monaco Grand Prix well aware that a much-needed upgrade package needed to step up in form after the recent struggles in Formula 1.
And, while it’s still early in the weekend, Valtteri Bottas’ eighth-place finish in FP2 at least offered a first indication that his changes could have kicked into high gear in the ultra-tight midfield battle. .
The revisions are quite significant, as there are also high downforce circuit-specific updates that are loaded onto the car to cope with the rigorous demands of the Monte Carlo street circuit.
The changes that have been made are all at the rear, with the engine cover, floor body and floor edge all optimized to improve flow conditions, whilst providing an increase in cooling performance.
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
Photo by: George Piola
The latter has also been aided by the introduction of a new cooling panel, which sits on the shoulder of the engine cover and offers the maximum heat rejection of those available in its option suite.
Meanwhile, the rear suspension shrouds have been modified to work in conjunction with a new rear brake duct enclosure (red arrow, old spec inset below).
Alfa Romeo C43 rear wing and rear brake duct comparison
Photo by: Uncredited
As expected, there is also a higher beam rear wing and wing variant for Monaco. While it shares commonalities with the other picks, it’s clear how much deeper and steeper the mainplane and top flap are in this spec.
The rear wing mounting pylons have also been redesigned, with a larger space introduced between the gooseneck and the mainplane leading edge, while their overall height has also been increased.
This is paired with a DRS pod and a more bulbous actuator compared to that used in recent races.
Metal inserts have also been added to the rear quarter endplate cutout, which again differs from the style used in recent races, while the flap edge and pivots have been reinforced.
The cancellation of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix has meant that many improvements originally planned for this round have been postponed in Monaco, so there is plenty to see.
Aston Martin chose to stagger the introduction of the new parts it had planned to debut at Imola with those most suited to Monaco’s requirements now on display.
Technical details of the Aston Martin AMR23
Photo by: George Piola
The rest of the parts not used here will carry over to the Spanish GP, with a revised outer front wing layout a likely candidate for this, given how the team has described some of its updates in the presentation document of the car before the event.
For this weekend, the AMR23’s upper wishbone fairing has been modified and now features a twisted profile across its entire span to improve downstream flow.
The front brake duct lower deflector has also been repositioned within the legality zone, a feature that will likely bear more fruit once the aforementioned front fender changes take place in Spain.
Aston Martin AMR23 rear brake detail
Photo by: George Piola
Meanwhile, at the rear of the car, the suspension shrouds have been adjusted to alter their incidence, and guide vanes have been added to the inner drum of the rear brake assembly to help divert airflow when it crosses and bypasses the void. between the two surfaces.
The upper transition tip section of the rear wing endplate was also angled above the mainplane section, rather than being parallel to it.
Alpine also stumbled upon this approach almost simultaneously and it allowed it to backcomb the upper tip section of the rear fender and change how it and the rear quarter cutout will interact with each other.
Technical sheet Alpine A523
Photo by: George Piola
Alpine has also made significant changes to its sidepod architecture for Monaco, with the team that originally pioneered the toboggan-style ravine now taking it to a more extreme level after seeing what Aston Martin has done with it. the idea.
The A523’s pontoons are now wider and taller to allow the team to integrate the deeper valley section.
This should not only help improve the passage of airflow down over the assembly at the rear of the car and into the coke bottle area, but also help to flow down the side of the car and on the ground, which was also modified to fit.
Aerial view of the Alpine A523
Picture by: Alpine
