20 December 2023 , 19:06
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AlphaTauri chief Peter Bayer has vowed to correct the "error" made this year when the team failed to use their Red Bull allies' suspension designs on their 2023 car.
The team was rock bottom of the standings for most of the season until a late run of results catapulted them up to eighth. A series of floor upgrades to the AT04 car was the main factor behind their improvement.
But also important was the decision to use the rear suspension design from the Red Bull RB19 for the final eight race weekends of the season. AlphaTauri scored multiple points at five of those events as they ended a drab campaign on a high.
Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda were able to get better results for their efforts. And they will hope to continue reaping the benefits next year with Red Bull planning to work as closely with their sister team as the regulations allow.
Chief executive Bayer, who started that role in June, regrets that AlphaTauri didn't adopt the current approach much earlier. "The initial decision to go our own way with those critical parts simply was an error, and the people [who made the decision] back then are not with us anymore," he told Autosport.
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"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 went on to point out that it is not as simple as putting a different suspension on the car - it has to work with the rest of its design.
He added: "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."
Ricciardo and Tsunoda are set to benefit from the team taking inspiration from Red Bull's designs next season. Egginton has already told Autosport that the front suspension of the RB19 will be incorporated into the team's 2024 car, along with the rear which was introduced in Singapore.
"We'll design and manufacture a new chassis for next year, so we've got the opportunity to adopt some parts," he said. "When the regulations change, you have to look at it slightly differently, but we take it year by year."