Alpine A521 technical focus
The rebranded Renault’s 2021 machine looks the part, but can it deliver for the returning Fernando Alonso?
BARGEBOARDS
The A521 bargeboard package isn’t wildly different to those on last year’s Renault RS20, and retains the shutter-blind structure on the side of the car, which leads into a fairly short-chord boomerang. But the team has elected to part the two vanes looping over the sidepod inlet, moving away from the decision it made midway through 2019 to unite the two.
The freed-up horizontal winglet curls up at the tips, meaning that the team can build a tip vortex where it needs to and send it down the car to help the floor. The vertical piece now extends down to the floor, given that the team has had to discard the floor slot that previously occupied that space.
FLOOR
Like its rivals, Alpine has kept the floor relatively concealed, not wishing to give its secrets away. There is a small curl in the rear corner, meaning that the design is altogether similar to the construction that it used in free practice at the 2020 season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. There is a change forward of that – the slot that sat alongside the raised portion of the floor is no longer there, because the new floor rules means the teams can no longer have them. This has allowed Alpine to move the vertical turning vane down, in an attempt to exercise some control of the airflow around this area. There’s also a supporting fin towards the back, but there should be further changes to the design once we see it in the flesh.
BODYWORK
The Renault RS20 chassis wasn’t exactly inundated with puppy fat, but the Alpine makeover has extended to the sidepods. They look incredibly small, the team opting to reintroduce a more traditional undercut to open up the upper face of the floor. It does appear that the engine cover is a little larger too, suggesting that Alpine has further cut back on the cooling paraphernalia present in the sidepods and moved it further inboard. Either that, or the blue livery and accentuated French identity mean the rollhoop is a Ligier JS5 tribute act. Either way, it appears that the designers have worked hard on the cooling package to give the team a little more latitude with its aero package. Extracting the maximum from the partially neutered diffusers will be significant in 2021.
FRONT END
Alpine has apparently retained the thin-nose crash structure that it used last season, and also appears to have kept in step with its front-wing philosophy, using two straightened, short-chord top flaps to keep airflow attached as the wing cambers more aggressively towards the rear edge. The cape attached to the underside of the nose appears to be more aggressive, and the team has slotted the outboard edges. It also links up with the aero architecture underneath, cumulatively working to send airflow outwards, and further protecting the floor from the turbulence from the front tyres. With fewer developments on the floor now allowed, Alpine seems to have considered prevention the best cure for the diffuser efficiency.