Upgrades few and far between in Qatar due to sprint format

Only three teams - Alpine, Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri – have implemented updates for this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, with the event’s sprint format predictably limiting developments.

With just a single practice session available to the field, the chances of witnessing a flurry of changes at Lusail were always going to be low.

Teams were understandably reluctant to trial modifications, only to have their cars locked in parc fermé after FP1 for the remainder of the weekend.

Nevertheless, the three teams that did carry new components in their crates opted for only minor tweeks.

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Alpine introduce a modified floor body on its A523 that featured a taller diffuser sidewall cut-out in the tyre flank area, an update that is expected to bring a small gain of downforce.

There was also a slight change to the rear drum lower flick geometry on the Alpine to give a drag reduction and some downforce increase at low ride height settings.

©FIA

Finally, circuit specific cooling louvres geared towards bodywork testing for Mexico were installed, but also for the purpose of providing more cooling flow to manage PU temperatures.

At Alfa Romeo, the only tweak on the Swiss outfit’s C43 were redesigned planes and endplates on the beam wing to enhance aero flow throughout the car’s bodywork.

©FIA

At AlphaTauri, the forward part of the AT04’s floor edge had been modified to reduce the pressure at the edge of the floor and to draw more mass flow between the floor fences, thereby increasing local load.

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