How Alpine conquered F1 2021's battle of the 'A-team' midfielders

If Formula 1’s fight at the front of the field was incredibly tight and unpredictable at times in 2021, the midfield contest behind McLaren and Ferrari took things to a new level.

In a season when the COVID-triggered homologation rules helped to keep things close, it was clear that there was going to be little to choose between the three ‘A’ teams: Aston Martin, AlphaTauri and Alpine. And whereas the battles further up the order came down to car and engine characteristics, plus a little bit of development, the fight between this trio was decided by a wider multitude of factors that left things unpredictable to the end.

Heading into the season, the money appeared to be on the rebranded Aston Martin team as being the one that could make good gains in 2021. It had shone strongly in the second half of 2020, including Sergio Perez taking his maiden win at the Sakhir Grand Prix, and the impetus and investment triggered by owner Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin remake looked set to carry the squad further forward. But the team’s fate was effectively sealed before a wheel had even turned when it suffered the same setback as Mercedes in being hampered by the new floor regulations that were introduced for 2021 in a bid to slow the cars down.

With the roots of its ‘Pink/Green Mercedes’ based on the low-rake Mercedes W10, Aston Martin suffered the exact same issue as the reigning world champion squad – it had lost a chunk more downforce than the high-rake cars, thanks to the new aero regulations. Whereas the Mercedes buffer of 0.5-1s per lap that it had over its rivals at times in 2020 meant it was pulled back towards the front of the pack, for Aston Martin – stuck in that ultra-tight midfield tussle – the loss of anything up to one second at some circuits meant it dropped well down the order.

As team principal Otmar Szafnauer said: “The midfield was so tight, the lap time that we lost – seven, eight, nine tenths of a second per lap, depending on what track we were at – moved us from the third-fastest car to about the sixth, seventh-fastest car. Whereas with Mercedes, they too lost because of the aerodynamic philosophy they run, that just moved them from always being on pole to now fighting for the championship.”

Aston Martin lost out with pre-season changes to the floor

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

While the team tried to make amends for the performance deficit, it was a tough task to tweak its package to get around the rule implications because the homologation rules were so tight. In simple terms, moving to a high-rake concept would mean a change of rear suspension – something that wasn’t allowed in-season.

PLUS: How F1 teams tackled 2021's unique development war

Initially Stroll and Szafnauer vented their fury at the FIA, and posed questions about how much influence F1’s commercial rights holder had in helping frame the regulation changes for 2021 – and there was even talk of a potential legal challenge. In the end those threats faded away, Aston Martin realised it had to accept what had been done, and got on with developing its way out of the situation. And some improvements did come.

But knowing that the wholesale change it needed to make a big leap forward was not possible, Aston Martin took the decision to pretty much abandon aero development of the AMR21 early and join other squads in focusing more on what’s coming for 2022.

It wasn’t lost on AlphaTauri that Tsunoda only contributed 32 points to its constructors’ tally, compared to Gasly’s 110. Considering it missed out on fifth spot by 13 points, it’s clear how much it hurt not to have two equal drivers

That’s not to say that the team rolled over and gave up on things entirely, because there were days when it shone – helped in part by the vastly experienced Sebastian Vettel making the most of those chaotic afternoons when big points were up for grabs.

In June’s Azerbaijan GP he finished second, and in Hungary he challenged Esteban Ocon for the win all the way through to the end. But a fuel leak meant that he would lose his podium finish because there was not enough petrol left in his tank for the mandatory post-race FIA checks.

From then on, Aston’s season fell away as its high-drag car (a consequence of it bolting on more downforce to counter the floor performance losses) simply could not compete on equal terms with the consistently fast AlphaTauri or a much-improved Alpine team that built up some pretty good momentum.

On pure pace terms – especially on Saturday afternoons – it should have been AlphaTauri that bossed this three-way battle in the middle of the pack. Its Honda-powered AT02 was good enough to be a regular Q3 contender – indeed, Pierre Gasly failed to make it there just four times out of 22. But two factors held the team back from the fifth-placed slot it clearly had the machinery for.

Spate of incidents for Tsunoda hurt AlphaTauri's point-scoring potential

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The main one was its driver line-up. Alongside Gasly, the team promoted young Japanese Yuki Tsunoda from Formula 2. It initially appeared to have been an inspired move when he shone brilliantly at the season-opening Bahrain GP, overtaking Fernando Alonso at one stage, scoring points and being hailed by F1 sporting chief Ross Brawn as one of the most promising rookies for years. But AlphaTauri’s and Tsunoda’s season came crashing down at Imola when he smashed his car up in Q1.

It triggered a run of shunts and errors in the opening phase of the campaign that dented Tsunoda’s confidence. Following an enforced move to near AlphaTauri’s Faenza factory, it took him until well into the second half of the campaign to regain his belief and confidence.

PLUS: How Tsunoda plans to achieve his F1 potential

A season-best fourth in the season-closing Abu Dhabi GP showed promise for the future, but it wasn’t lost on the team that Tsunoda only contributed 32 points to its constructors’ tally, compared to Gasly’s 110. Considering it missed out on fifth spot by 13 points, it’s clear how much it hurt not to have two equal drivers.

Things were also not helped by the team not capitalising as often as it should have done on its pure speed. Some in-race incidents (Gasly losing front wings against Daniel Ricciardo in Bahrain and the Monza sprint race) allied to some pace struggles (especially in Qatar) gave Alpine all the room it needed to win this battle.

For Alpine, there was no shying away from the fact that it finished fifth despite not having the fifth-fastest car. In fact, at the start of the season, it wasn’t clear that what had previously been the Renault squad would even be involved among the front end of the midfield battle at all.

The returning Alonso found himself needing some time to get up to speed again, and the Enstone squad was not especially comfortable in understanding how to get the most out of its A521. That was not helped by it running a Renault powerplant that had not been upgraded much for three years (it opted to bring a new version for 2022’s new rules), and the team faced a spell early on when it was confused about where the pace in its car was.

“At the beginning of the season we were lost: like Monaco actually is a very poor memory, like a bad moment,” says CEO Laurent Rossi. “We were lost. We had no idea what to do. We scored points but we don’t even know how. That was difficult because we didn’t understand the car so well.”

Alpine didn't have the best car of the midfield teams, but its drivers maximised the package

Photo by: Alpine

While the Alpine package may not have been the strongest in this three-way ‘A’ team contest, where the team proved ultimately stronger over the second half of the campaign was in having two superbly strong drivers, plus a pitwall that was razor sharp when it came to making the most of opportunities.

There was no bigger opportunity than August’s Hungarian GP, where, thanks to the first-corner accident, Esteban Ocon found himself at the front of the pack. With the help of some superb defensive driving from Alonso in delaying a pursuing Lewis Hamilton, he maintained his composure to grab his maiden F1 win.

PLUS: The “heart-breaking” call that led to Ocon’s Hungarian GP triumph

"At the beginning of the season we were lost: like Monaco actually is a very poor memory, like a bad moment" Laurent Rossi

That day proved to be Alpine’s biggest points haul of the season, but on tracks that suited its car – those with smooth asphalt, a high-downforce requirement and at sea level – Ocon and Alonso were able to bring home the points that proved critical in the battle for fifth.

It was the late-season round in Qatar that ultimately sealed it. AlphaTauri suffered a tyre-degradation disaster and Gasly slumped from a front-row start to finish 11th, while Alonso grabbed his sole podium finish of the year. Alongside Ocon’s fifth position, that delivered an evening haul that clinched this contest.

Gasly started on the front row in Qatar, but it was Alonso who took a canny podium as the AlphaTauri chewed its tyres

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

How Vettel proved his worth in and out of the car

Sebastian Vettel became a hero for many in 2021 but, perhaps unfortunately for him, it was not entirely down to what he did on the track.

Aston Martin’s struggles with an AMR21 that had been hobbled by the new aero regulations were not aided by the German taking a bit longer than he had hoped to get used to the all-new platform, after his years racing a high-rake Ferrari. By the time he got up to speed with the car, Aston Martin had pretty much turned off the development tap as it realised there was not much to gain in doing better in 2021, especially if it risked falling behind in 2022.

For Vettel the season explanation was easy: “I think I took a little bit too long to get used to everything. And too many little mistakes here and there. Sometimes racing didn’t go our way. Starting from the back too many times. So yeah, we know what do we have to work on and let’s see what we can do next time.”

Vettel had his days, though. He bounced back from a tough 2020, which included taking his 122nd F1 podium in Baku and what should have been another in Hungary were it not for a fuel rules breach by his team.

But what Vettel will be mostly remembered for in 2021 is his off-track campaigning: from the litter picking at Silverstone; building the bee farm in Austria; his proud wearing of rainbow colours; and his intelligent remarks about human rights.

PLUS: Why re-energised Vettel isn’t just making an impact at Aston Martin

It was off-track too where his team fell in love with him. As well as delivering when opportunity came knocking on track, he proved to be an incredibly hard worker in trying to help push Aston Martin forward on its road to recovery.

“He’s been brilliant,” says team boss Otmar Szafnauer. “He’s such a man of integrity, he works hard, great work ethic, leaves no stone unturned. The engineers like working with him, the mechanics love him as a person. He’s just a genuine guy. And that goes a long way in life.”

Vettel was a popular addition to the Aston Martin team, and scored a superb podium in Baku

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images