However, despite some clearly more prescriptive regulations, there were distinct differences between each machine, with the sidepods, in particular, offering a wide variety of design solutions.
Now, a year and a half into this regulatory era, we have started to see a wholesale shift towards one of these concepts – the downwash solution - as teams realise it best serves the overall aerodynamic needs of the current rules.
Alpine, AlphaTauri and Red Bull were the first to adopt this solution, and of these Alpine was the first to take its own unique development pathway, with the team making changes to its inlet design as early as the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in preparation for it.
Source: Autosport