Gary Anderson on the Alpine A525

      In the run–up to the tests, comments appeared in the motorsport press about the 2025 Alpine car - supposedly, in fact, it was still the same A524 chassis from last year, the design of which was only slightly upgraded.

      Today in Bahrain, the Renault factory team, along with the rest of the World Championship participants, began pre-season tests, and everyone had the opportunity to take a closer look at the A525. Gary Anderson, a former racing car designer and now an expert at The Race, shared his impressions.

      Alpine didn't start the 2024 season well, the team's car was too heavy and its handling was no better than a supermarket cart.  But they spent the end of the season quite confidently, so Alpine hopes that progress will continue in 2025.

      At least the new leadership of the team (Oliver Oakes and Flavio Briatore) has a wealth of experience in motorsport, and they understand that miracles do not happen, and results depend solely on hard work and dedication.

      The front wing

      Let's start with the front of the car: it seems that so far it has remained virtually the same. Except that the location of the sponsor logos on the nose cone has become different.

      Front suspension

      There's nothing to talk about here either: the suspension configuration remains the same as it was in 2024. It is based on pushrods interacting with the suspension system mounted on the chassis – in theory, the characteristics of this unit will remain approximately the same.

      Side pontoons

      If we talk about the side pontoons, it seems that the height of the radiator air intake openings has been slightly reduced, but at the same time they have become wider. The location of the air intakes has remained almost the same, but their lower edges are slightly extended forward.

      The bottom

      Looking at the edges of the bottom, you can see several changes. For example, on the part of it that is located in the area of the rear wheels, there are no holes that allowed the flow rushing to the rear of the car to connect with the jet of air that passed from the inside of the rear wheel.

      The deflectors on the edges of the bottom look a little more aggressive, and the curved section located behind them has become somewhat shorter. In theory, this should increase the amount of air that is "pulled out" from under the front edges of the bottom - accordingly, it allows you to enhance the ground effect in its rear part.

      Rear suspension

      The configuration of the rear suspension has also remained the same, it is based on pushrods, however, it seems that the location of the individual elements of this unit has become somewhat different. In particular, the attachment point of the front part of the lower triangular lever on the machine body is shifted slightly downwards.

      From this we can conclude that the team has nevertheless put a lot of effort into trying to improve the efficiency of the undercarriage of the car. In general, the A525 can be considered the embodiment of the chassis modernization measures that the team took during the season and which allowed achieving results towards the end of the championship.