Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski has explained the “technical choice” which led to the “spectacularly bulky” airbox design on its 2021 Formul꧃a 1 car.

The French manufacturer’s new-look A521 challenger not only turned heads when it made its public on track debut on the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain thanks to its sꦚtriking revised livery, but also because of a fascinating design approach to its airbox and bodywork. 

Along with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso’s return to F1 with the Enstone-based squad, the team’s very wide a💃nd bulbous air box has caused a stir and become a talking point in the Bahrain p♔addock.

B🍌udkowski, who joked that people were “body shaming” Alpine’s new car, explained the thought-process behind the different direction taken by the team, revealing it has found a greater gain by cutting back the side pods and moving the cooling structure higher up on the A521.

“It’s a technical choice,🌠” Budkowski said on the second day of running on Saturday. “We found that slimming the sidepods was a positive direction, wh🤡ich is nothing new really.

“So we have repacka🥃ged and relocated some of the bulky things in the car and put them behind the air inlet. So yes, it gives a fairly spectac﷽ularly bulky shape in the car, but we found it works for us.

“There are centre-of-gravity compromises but ꦏusually the 🧔aero performance wins over weight and centre of gravity.”

Alpine has enjoyed a strong start to pre-season testing so far, with Esteban Ocon loggin🎐g 129 laps on the opening day.

Alonso is also heading towards the triple figure mark wit💧h 90 minutes of running still to go on day two, while the Spaniard has also demonstrated some encouraging pace in his first outing with Alpine this year.