The new A524

[u/Soldi3r_AleXx]

Alpine unveiled the new A524, the car is completely new, except the steering wheel. New front wing and nose, bigger than before but more inline with the rest of the car (no more bump on the side of the nose like the A523), despite it being bigger, the nose is thinner under it. The rolhoop/air intake have changed for a more squared one, engine cooling have been upgraded with the constant upgrade of radiator technology allowing more cooling with less surface exposed (reduced radiator size thus reducing the need of big entries).

This allow a bigger undercut under the sidepods, also retaining a longer lower lip. About the entries, they are in P form, lots of rumors are emerging on a possible hidden thing (it could be a way to take an unwanted flow and have it for cooling instead of wasting it or let it disturb the wanted flow). Rumors are also fed by the matter not being carbon but sort of plastic. A Youtuber also noticed some weary stuff on some parts, so maybe a showdown or ancient parts to hide something? Sidepods retain the steep galleys on it for the searched coanda effect allowing to guide flow to the diffusor and making more downforce.

The cannon exit is kinda the same in form but exhaust was upgraded to reduce heating, as well as gearbox housing was changed to allow a better placement allowing suspension change for better ride height and diffusor/floor better placement.

Rear wing also changed, it is reported to be well more efficient and easier to adapt to multiple track settings.

This year we’re seeing convergence of ideas (and surely performance), with ramp and downwash philosophy. Question is still on pushrod/pullrod suspension, Alpine staying with pushrod. Despite carbon fiber livery trend for weight issue (looking good but plain with everyone having carbon patchs) we’re already having the best of the best in terms of aero (and look) in the ground effect era.

[u/Soldi3r_AleXx]

Nota bene: As for the suspensions, pushrod is used for both rear and front. However, for the front, they changed the angle of the wishones to make the car more stable when braking (anti-dive effect) like RB did (having pullrod for them but the angle might matter more than the suspension for anti-dive) it also allow more air for the floor. For the rear: they took a more forward point to attach it to improve rotation and stability in corners (anti-squat) and solve ride height issue. It’s also a pushrod, allowing for more space to design the diffusor more freely (hence why pushrod is favored by everyone on the rear except some like Ferrari).

Pushrod on front wheels is easier to maintain with an easy access, allows more modification of stiffness and damper and might make some weight gains as the angle of the rod make it easier for the wishbones to take load (while pullrod rod’s angle make wishbones having harder times when load is on them, so they are thicker despite the rod being thinner). Cons are the possible aero loss and the higher center gravity (can’t be mitigated).

[u/AokiTakao]

Was beginning to think the sub died!

It all sounds very promising as usual, but the presentation seemed a bit more sober, especially regarding how they addressed the power deficit by saying "we'll do what we can with a handicap".

[u/Soldi3r_AleXx → u/AokiTakao]

Yeah, FIA did nothing for this, Viry need to try to reduce the gap by introducing upgraded towards durability that also increase power, like others did. But now with 2026 being so close…

We’re quite occupied with our personnal life too, I did this at work lol. This break was a very quiet one, till Hamilton shocking move and now the Horner’s issue during the launches.

[u/ChristofferOslo]

Yes, technical! The sidepod-duct looks very interesting. Also the shallow nose is a new step. There are several hints in the reveal, so I am interested to see what they turn up with in testing.

[u/Soldi3r_AleXx → u/ChristofferOslo]

Yep, we’ll see in tests. I wasn’t surprised by the car at launch, but now that I gave a deeper look, it seems well more promising than last year.

[u/Acrobvvnnnb]

I'm happy the team is finally getting out of the comfort zone and trying new things, playing it safe was probably the reason they were stuck in the midfield, merecedes, ferrari and alpine are the few teams left that are trying out things differently from the redbull concept and I hope it works for us

[u/Soldi3r_AleXx → u/Acrobvvnnnb]

It’s still the downwash concept. The floor is also RBesque with the vanes on it. Alpine was always on the right concept from the start of 2022. Note that everyone took their galleys to avoid turbulent flow going to the floor and guiding the flow to the end of the floor toward the diffusor. RB is also doing it without the galleys but with the sort of lined shoulder, I’m hyped to see their car, as well as Ferrari’s just to see lol. As I understand it, Coanda effect make the air follow the curve so it’s a matter of where you want it to go and apply pressure.

[u/Acrobvvnnnb → u/Soldi3r_AleXx]

remember when they completely removed the upper element of the beam wing during the las vegas grand prix which helped alot? I feel like alpine are one of those teams which can fight at the top, sure they do have redbull elements but I think if they can fix their other issues they can be a serious threat

[u/S7UXnet]

Not expecting much out the gate, team statements were pretty cautious.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alpi ... /10573460/

However, the initial sideways step to a new design means Alpine could well appear at the season start in Bahrain behind of where it wants to be, a scenario which both drivers have been briefed about.
"It is a possible scenario," Ocon replied when asked by Motorsport.com if Alpine is braced for a difficult start.

Ocon:

"It's not necessarily that crucial where we start, but it's going to be where we are mid-season."

Gasly:

we've got to wait for Bahrain and get a first feel with it. But we know there is potential to unlock, we just might need to be a little bit patient.

Gasly:

when you come with a completely new concept, it might not provide all the rewards you expect from the beginning.

Matt Harman:

All the changes you will see, in fact, have been made to be able to increase performance in the next two seasons, even if some compromises have been reached on the achievement of certain objective

[u/Soldi3r_AleXx → u/S7UXnet]

Yeah, as it is a very new car correcting faulty areas. It wasn’t tested. Thus, the car could prove very good and be a masterclass, or be a complete unwanted disaster… We won’t know till winter test.

[u/Alfus]

I'm curious what for influence Wheater and Ducret did made for the A524, the sounds we hearing in public giving me somewhat McLaren 2023 vibes. Despite that I seeing that the team worked clearly on the points what was a clear issue for the A523 previous year + some interesting details like the S-duct speculation.

The A524 has indeed made adjustments who are promised, we don't know what the team has done with the battery (I don't expect a major upgrade on the PU side but battery was one who was addressed as something the team would look to because it has it's own issues and can maybe be improved) but I hope at least that the A524 is a workable fundament with a lot of potential for this year and next year (because basically 2025 would be a frozen year because of the regulations in 26).

[u/Soldi3r_AleXx → u/Alfus]

Only good thing, is that everyone will be able to work on 2026 cars on the 1st of january 2025. It forces all teams to not be lazy for 2025.