Alpine “exercised the envelope” with extreme F1 testing set-ups

TV coverage showed the car bottoming heavily at times during the test as it appeared to tend towards bouncing.

However, Harman insisted that was a result of experiments that weren’t necessarily intended to be useful at the Sakhir track specifically, but which could apply to other tracks.

That focus on exploring the car meant that team never ran with the softer Pirelli tyres and low fuel loads, and thus its overall best times didn’t reflect the car’s true potential.

“The amount that we’ve learned in the car, we’ve exercised the envelope quite nicely,” said Harman. “I don’t think we’ve exercised it fully just yet.

“But we’ve definitely exercised the envelope. And I think we’re good going into the race. And we’re trying to make sure we use all the tools we put in the car, which is the most important thing really. Don’t then leave anything to chance.”

Harman stressed that as part of its homework, the team ran the car stiffer than it normally would at Sakhir, while there is also an overall focus on running it lower than was possible last year.

“I’m sure you’ve some of the footage, we’ve run quite stiff, and that works in some conditions. We need to exercise that. On this track it doesn’t tend towards being very, very stiff. Although there are some circuits during the season where we’re going to optimise and capitalise on that, hence the test.

“I think we’ve learned a lot from that. Some of the tools that we’ve got and those typically on the rear end of the car are allowing us to capitalise on that learning. So again, it’s important. Also the ride height of the car, we all know, is a key performance differentiator.

“We need to make sure we exercise that as well. We’ve got some technology in the car that allows us to run it a little bit lower than maybe we would have done last year.

“We’re going to be trying that for the first time in Friday practice at the first race. So it’s been interesting.”

Harman noted that it is necessary to push to the limits in order to maximise performance.

“I suppose the extreme nature of it is just this cliff edge that you get to when you run the car a little bit too low, you need to understand that, it’s multidimensional. It’s an aerodynamic thing, also a confidence thing for the driver.

“It’s much more than just the bouncing metric, and I think you’ve got to understand that, and then you’ve got to try and develop techniques to soften that approach,…