Alfa's 2020 F1 struggles a "good exercise" in team growth - Vasseur
Alfa Romeo Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur believes that the Swiss team’s struggles in 2020 were a “good exercise” that ultimately proved beneficial.


Last year Alfa was handicapped by the drop in performance of Ferrari’s power unit, as was fellow customer Haas.
The Maranello engine is much improved this year, and Alfa has also taken a step on the chassis side. Overall the team has made the biggest year-on-year lap time improvement relative to the frontrunners, although thus far it has scored only two points.
Speaking to Autosport in an exclusive interview, Vasseur says that running towards the back of the field last year was "tough", but it further motivated his staff heading into this season.
“As a team, we have to be focused on what we can manage and what is in our hands,” Vasseur said.
“And we have to stay focused on the development of the chassis, on the drivers, try to get the best out of the car on every single weekend.
PLUS: Why Alfa's boss is ready for the task of securing a stronger F1 future
“For sure it's much more difficult when you are 18th or 19th. At some stage you could lose the motivation or pay less attention to the small details than when you're fighting for Q3. It's always much easier to get the best from everybody when you're fighting for the front than the back.
“But I think it was a good exercise, honestly, even if it was tough! Everybody stayed very motivated, and we already did a step forward in the last part of the season last year.

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal, Alfa Romeo Racing, in the team principals Press Conference
Photo by: FIA Pool
“On the chassis side I think that we are on the path of the last stages of 2020, because in the last five or six races we made a decent step forward.
“And I think we did a good aero package based on the new regulations, and together with the step forward on the engine, we are in much better shape than in 2020.”
Alfa is one of the teams that has been obliged to change its rear wing in order to meet the FIA’s stricter deflection test, which comes into force this weekend in France.
The team has had to divert resources from its 2022 project in order to pass the test, much to Vasseur’s frustration.
“The philosophy of F1 and the mentality of F1 is to be at the limit on every single area,” he said. “And when you have a regulation, and you allow a deflection of X for a certain load, the job of every single team is to do it to save weight, to gain on every single area.
“If they come and say, ‘It's not the same load, it's 50% more,’ because that’s the case here, you're out. It means that as a small team, we are struggling.
“We have had to find solutions, we had to stop other development for next year, just because we had to produce new products. I don't want to go deep in details, but it's a decent part of the package.

Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo Racing C41
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“I think it's the same question, the same issue, for the big teams. They are struggling with the limit of the cost cap, and we are struggling with the budget.”
Like Red Bull boss Christian Horner Vasseur believes that the focus should now move to front wing movement.
“We have exactly the same approach, collectively, on the front wing. If you compare the deformation of the front wing, it will be the next topic on the table,” he said.
“Because it's exactly the same story. And the front wing, the impact on the performance is much bigger, because you also changing the aero balance.
“I had a look at some videos, and the movement of the front wing on some cars is mega. I'm not complaining, because there is a test, and they fulfil the test. If they don't, they're out.
“But do we have to change the test on the front wing also? Or you could say that if someone is not able to be at the minimum weight, they change the weight?
“You can't complain about the teams, because everybody is playing his own game. And if someone has the feeling that another team has an advantage, he will fight against them.”
Related video

The joy that exposes F1’s key weakness
Alfa F1 designer Furbatto to join Aston Martin

Latest news
Ferrari: F1 team orders idea discussed more outside than internally
Ferrari says the use of team orders between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is “more discussed outside Ferrari than inside Ferrari” as it targets parity with its Formula 1 drivers.
Aston Martin: CFD data shows rear wing doesn't hurt F1 rules intent
Aston Martin says simulation data it gave to the FIA proved that its radical rear wing idea did not scupper the intent of Formula 1's 2022 rules to improve racing.
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
US fan demand can support "many more" F1 races, says COTA chief
The boss of the Circuit of The Americas believes there is enough demand from North American Formula 1 fans to support “many more” races in the United States.
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid
How studying Schumacher helped make Coulthard a McLaren F1 mainstay
Winner of 13 grands prix including Monaco and survivor of a life-changing plane crash, David Coulthard could be forgiven for having eased into a quiet retirement – but, as MARK GALLAGHER explains, in fact he’s busier than ever, running an award-winning media company and championing diversity in motor racing. Not bad for someone who, by his own admission, wasn’t quite the fastest driver of his generation…
Could F1 move to a future beyond carbonfibre?
Formula 1 has ambitious goals for improving its carbon footprint, but could this include banishing its favoured composite material? PAT SYMONDS considers the alternatives to carbonfibre and what use, if any, those materials have in a Formula 1 setting
How Russell has proven he deserves to be Hamilton's Mercedes heir
He’s fast, he’s smart, and he’s already shown he’s not going to let Max Verstappen intimidate him. George Russell won’t say it, but LUKE SMITH says he’s ready to take the lead at Mercedes when Lewis Hamilton moves on to a quieter life. And – whisper it – Mercedes and Lewis are starting to think so too