Kimi Raikkonen yesterday debuted the new Alfa Romeo Racing car for 2019 at Fiorano, Italy. Ferrari’s private test track welcomed the so far unnamed new Alfa Romeo in a particular quadrifoglio testing livery, as Sauber’s Alfa Romeo-branded new car for 2019 turned heads by displaying not only the striking camouflage livery, but a front wing design that many are calling “revolutionary”.
“It has not been seen on any other car,” said Tobias Gruner, a writer for Germany’s authoritative Auto Motor und Sport. The car appeared to have a valentine special livery, sporting red hearts and “quadrifoglios” on the black car. Most of the interest went towards the front wing however, which is completely different to other cars that were seen so far. Instead of going for a traditional approach of maximizing the permitted dimensions of the front wing to create downforce, the flaps on Alfa’s front wing do not run onto the endplates.
Instead, the flaps appear to be missing a section ahead of the front wheels.
It’s unclear how far along Alfa Romeo is committed to this approach, but it’s certain that this frong wing design has a major impact on airflow around the front wheels, and hence also its wake, and rear car downforce. If it would prove other teams can find more downforce with traditional front wings, switching back might not be an easy task.
After the test, Alfa Romeo is packing up and shipping to Barcelona, where the car will be officially unveiled in the Barcelona pitlane on Monday morning on the first day of pre-season testing. Kimi Raikkonen will be the first to drive Alfa Romeo Racing’s 2019 car at Barcelona next week (Monday and Wednesday), while teammate Antonio Giovinazzi will drive on Tuesday and Thursday.
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