Alpine arrives in Baku with track-specific aerodynamic upgrades

Alpine has confirmed that it will travel to Azerbaijan with a few circuit-specific aerodynamic upgrades. It will be a preview of the bigger plans the French brand has in the pipeline.

Alpine can regularly keep up with the forefront of the midfield, especially in qualifying, and occasionally even beat Mercedes. Nevertheless, the team is currently in sixth place in the Constructors' Championship with 40 points, still behind Alfa Romeo (41 points).

The team is therefore preparing for the next major update for the A522, but before that, aerodynamic updates will be taken to the arrow-fast Baku City Circuit. "We have a couple of circuit-specific modified aerodynamic upgrades for this weekend before activating the next batch of upgrades as part of our 2022 development plan," Szafnauer said in a team press release.

According to Szafnauer, it is going to be difficult to tune the car correctly in Azerbaijan. Top speed on the long straight is high, but the Alpine team principal knows there are plenty of slower sections. "It's a tough balance to find," he says of the street track in Baku.