It Is Easy To Copy Others But 'The Devil Is In Detail' Says AlphaTauri Technical Director

Wednesday, 10 January 2024 at 13:00

AlphaTauri's technical director, Jody Egginton, explained how his team approaches the development of the car, saying it is easy to copy what others do, but it is crucial to understand the details.

AlphaTauri F1 team has made decent progress in development in the last few races of the season. The Italian team has been able to introduce effective upgrades that have increased the pace of their cars significantly.

Ricciardo's P4 in Mexico City Qualifying under regular conditions is a result of the great work that the team put in and also great promise going into the next season. Jody Egginton explained to motorsport.com how his team approaches the development:

“"The devil is in the detail. There are cars that are not scoring podiums every weekend that have got some really nice features on them."”

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Each F1 team has its own R&D department where they come up with new innovations, but it is also crucial to look around at what others are doing and learn from that.

“"We're always looking at what people are doing, and it's about bringing all that together and understanding it, you got to understand that."”

Even if a team spots some great feature that is being used on a rival's car, it is not as easy as just copying it and gaining performance. The technical director continued:

“"The downwashing concept, we can all sit there and draw it, it's not a problem. But the devil is the detail, and we're moving ourselves forward with lots of small detail on the car."”

McLaren started the season as one of the worst teams on the grid and ended as the second best, according to the words of their current team principal, Andrea Stella.

The Papaya team is an inspiration for all the other teams on the grid and is proof that significant steps forward in performance are possible. Egginton added: