AlphaTauri to boast major update during Abu Dhabi race weekend

For a lot of teams, the focus of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is sorting out the final positions in the Constructors' Championship. AlphaTauri can still jump from eighth to seventh if it outscores Williams by five points.

A change in position for the end-of-year standings means millions in terms of end-of-year payouts, meaning the stakes are high for Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda's team.

As a result, AlphaTauri is taking another major update for the car to the final race of 2023 and leaving no stone unturned, as AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer explained exclusively to RacingNews365.

Bayer indicated that AlphaTauri is making the update now with an eye toward next year's car.

"Since the summer, when we saw that the car was not working, we changed the concept. We basically said 'we'll keep continuously developing now'.

“So everything you see now is a preparation for next year. We'll bring another big update to Abu Dhabi which is another step into the 2024 car.”

AlphaTauri endured a difficult season before the summer break, as it struggled to score points.

But in recent races, it has taken a flurry of top 10 finishes to pull itself into the fight against Williams.

"We took a step back to try to understand what was working and what was wrong,” Bayer explained. “We kept the good bits and threw the wrong bit out the window.

“But to design them, to test them in the wind tunnel to see if they work and take them to the track, it takes time. The factory is still running in three shifts at the moment. We are continuing to develop and so gradually work toward 2024.”

Bayer indicated that the basis of the car for this year was strong, but that not enough was extracted from.

"Everyone is now following Red Bull's philosophy. And a lot of people say that even though we are the sister team of them, we look the least like the Red Bull.

“Even Toto [Wolff, Mercedes Team Principal] said that if 'I had to put a Red Bull sticker on my car, I'll do it as long as I can use the concept and go faster!'.

“Everyone now follows that philosophy. We had to significantly change our car and now it's working.”