(Motorsports news) As AlphaTauri prepares for a new era under new team leadership in 2024, there has been a clear difference in its attitude to the driver lineup. The emphasis on young and bringing in the latest Red Bull rookies to see if they have what it takes to make it in F1 before perhaps going to the energy drink company’s main squad at some point in the future is no longer a priority.
Instead, with Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda on board, AlphaTauri is poised to embark on its most experienced driver lineup in years. AlphaTauri’s engineers are ecstatic about this shift toward more experience, believing that the current generation of vehicles, along with restricted testing procedures, has made F1 a difficult ask for rookies.
The benefit of having wise heads on board has increased tremendously, according to Guillaume Dezoteux, AlphaTauri’s head of vehicle performance, which is why he and his colleagues are pleased about Tsunoda and Ricciardo’s cooperation. “We are looking forward to having this combination of drivers because, obviously, these cars don’t run much and they are in constant development,” he said.
“The car is always slightly different, and the driver’s experience is gold for finding a good mechanical set-up. We only have a couple of free practices in changing conditions, and we need a driver to give us a read on what the car is doing and to put this understanding into context for the season.”
“Is it the car’s strength, or a weakness, or are there other tracks where it could become a strength?” That is extremely significant.” Nothing, according to Dezoteux, more illustrates the difficulties that rookies experience than the example of Liam Lawson, who performed well at tracks he was familiar with but struggled at places that were unfamiliar to him.
Ricciardo returns to AlphaTauri for the United States Grand Prix this weekend after missing the previous five races due to a hand injury sustained at Zandvoort. He’ll be returning to a much-improved car, which has been considerably overhauled since the Singapore Grand Prix. For the Austin weekend, it will also have a new floor.
“So AlphaTauri has a new floor coming, that’s the main part everybody is developing a lot,” Dezoteux said of the anticipated upgrade. On those automobiles on the floor, there is still a lot of performance to be found. “We are hoping that’s going to be another step in the same direction because it’s fair to say that, since Silverstone, the updates have delivered and that’s a very positive sign for our aerodynamic department.”
Also read: American Express is the new F1 and Las Vegas Grand Prix partner
