A look at Alpine's new front wing for the Qatar GP

The new front wing will only be fitted to Pierre Gasly’s car for the Qatar Grand Prix, with the Frenchman running both the old specification and new specification wing during FP1 for comparison. The main differences on the new front wing revolve around how the front wing connects to the nose in a quest for additional downforce.

Rather than the nose coming all the way down to the point of the front wing element, the nose now sits behind the element. Although this is only a small change, it’s expected to affect the way that the front of the car manages airflow quite significantly. Alpine have detailed the reasoning for this upgrade in their submission to the FIA ahead of this weekend’s running. The reprofiled elements are aimed at offering better flow management and local load gains. The team have also shorted the nose of the A524 to be compatible with the new front wing geometry, offering a ‘healthier flow interaction’.

Alpine's front wing at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, pre-upgrades. — Alpine’s front wing at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, pre-upgrades. Credit: Alpine Global Media Center.

Alpine's upgraded Qatar front wing. — Alpine’s upgraded Qatar front wing. Credit: Alpine Global Media Center.

Alpine have also closed up the driver cooling slot as cooler weather conditions at the Lusail International Circuit versus last year’s iteration of the race mean the slot is not required.

The new front wing specification follows a trend set by the other teams, with Alpine joining on late into the season – perhaps in an effort to gather some last-minute data ahead of the 2025 season.