Formula 1
F1 tech review: Charting Alfa Romeo’s slide down the order
Alfa Romeo slipped down the Formula 1 pecking order when compared with its championship finish in 2022, so let’s take a look at some of the car’s technical details and how the team developed its car.
Matt Somerfield Giorgio Piola
Edited: Jan 2, 2024, 9:27 AM
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Giorgio Piola's F1 technical analysis
Giorgio Piola is the preeminent Formula 1 technical journalist. View our full selection of Giorgio's technical illustrative content
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo side details
Alfa Romeo teased everyone with its launch render at the start of the season, as the floor edge featured a series of winglets, a design that would never actually see the light of day.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 front suspension comparison
The C43’s front suspension featured a chassis blister around the front suspension elements to work better with the fairings and improve flow downstream.
Photo by: Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo C43 rear detail
Detached from the car we’re able to better see the detail of the rear crash structure, brake duct winglet, rear suspension and rear wing.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
The C43 presented without the sidepod and engine cover bodywork exposes the packaging of the radiators, the power unit and many of the other ancillaries.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
This shot of the floor left unattached to the car gives us a nice view of the floor fences and the geometry of the forward section of it.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
The view from inside the front brake drum, with a tightly packaged brake disc fairing and the caliper mounted at the rear of the assembly.
Photo by: Uncredited
Alfa Romeo Racing C43 detail
A similar arrangement at the rear of the car, with the fairing enclosing the brake disc and the caliper mounted in the lower half.
Photo by: Uncredited
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
The novel blade-style airbox arrangement on the C43, with four inlets built up around the blade.
Photo by: Uncredited
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
The forward portion of the floor is stepped to give more height at the inboard end, as can be seen by the contour line.
Photo by: Uncredited
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
A close up of the rear floor cutout and the tab-like wing that juts out from beneath the floor.
Photo by: Uncredited
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
An overview of the C43’s steering wheel with the various rotary switches, buttons and paddles that allow the driver to control the various functions of the power unit and chassis.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 front wing and nose comparison
Changes were made to the nose and front wing architecture early-on, with an elongated nose tip and mainplane redesign introduced at the Australian Grand Prix.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
Alfa Romeo’s high downforce rear wing at the Monaco Grand Prix, with metal inserts in the endplate cutout to help reduce flexion, whilst teardrop-shaped flap pivots are also employed. Also note the semi-detached shark fin that allows more freedom for the cooling outlets on the cover’s spine.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
Overview of the floor edge and downwash ramped-style sidepod solution
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 technical detail
Overview of the C43’s rear end with the beam wing in a bi-plane configuration, with a slatted forward mounted upper element and more loaded lower element. Also note the intricate Kiel probe arrays mounted beside the diffuser to capture data for the team.
Photo by: Filip Cleeren
Alfa Romeo Racing C43 technical detail
The low downforce rear wing configuration features a sawn-off tip section and central mounting pillars.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo Racing C43 technical detail
In the side view, it’s clear to see how the mainplane’s leading edge has also been set back when compared with the endplate, while the pillar’s swan neck design sees them chamfered as they meet the mainplane.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo Racing C43 front wing detail
A new floor was introduced at the United States Grand Prix, featuring an elongated edge wing, much like many of their rivals had already unveiled. A scrolled forward section gave way to a twisted central section with an opposingly angled section that was connected to the winglet, which had previously sat in the rear cutout.
Photo by: Uncredited
Alfa Romeo Racing C43 detail
A top-down overview of the front wing shows how the elements taper at the nose end of the assembly.
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Alfa Romeo C43 rear detail
Alfa Romeo added a swage line to the outer face of their rear wing endplate at the Qatar Grand Prix, which swoops more steeply than some of the versions seen elsewhere up and down the grid.
Here’s the list of the components that Alfa listed as having changed in the car presentation document prior to each race.
-
Saudi Arabia
-
- Front wing (flap trim)
- Rear wing
-
-
Australia
-
- Nose
- Front wing
- Mirror stay
-
-
Azerbaijan
-
- Rear wing
- Beam wing
- Front wing
-
-
Miami
-
- Beam wing
-
-
Monaco
-
- Engine cover
- Floor edge
- Floor
- Rear suspension fairings
- RBD
- Rear wing
- Beam wing
- Cooling louvres (new max cooling option)
-
-
Spain
-
- N/A
-
-
Canada
-
- RBD outlet
-
-
Austria
-
- N/A
-
-
Great Britain
-
- Floor fences
- Floor - keel winglet, mid floor and diffuser
- RBD
- Rear suspension fairings
-
-
Hungary
-
- N/A
-
-
Belgium
-
- Front wing flaps
- Rear wing
- Beam wing
-
-
Netherlands
-
- N/A
-
-
Italy
-
- Front suspension
- Rear wing
-
-
Singapore
-
- Floor fences
- Diffuser
- RBD and suspension fairings
- Front wing flaps
-
-
Japan
-
- N/A
-
-
Qatar
-
- Beam wing
-
-
USA
-
- Floor edge
-
-
Mexico
-
- Rear brake duct
-
-
Brazil
-
- N/A
-
-
Las Vegas
-
- N/A
-
-
Abu Dhabi
- Front wing flap design
- Front wing endplate
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