Alfa Romeo’s new C41 is largely similar to its predecessor and significant areas of the car are unchanged. But there are a few notable differences as these interactive comparisons reveal.
Team principal Frederic Vasseur describes the car as having “the same philosophy as its predecessor”. However the team has been able to make some changes, and other aerodynamic tweaks were required by new regulations intended to reduce downforce.The most obvious change is at the front the chassis, which features a new and much slimmer nose. The trend for thinner noses has spread across the grid in recent seasons and Alfa Romeo is the latest team to follow the trend. In addition to this changes, Alfa Romeo has also reworked the front suspension on its new car.
The C41 is otherwise largely similar to last year’s C39. Underneath the engine cover lies Ferrari’s new power unit which has been the focus of extensive work as the team and its customers found themselves at a power disadvantage to their rivals last year. Alfa Romeo has also retained the same Ferrari gearbox as last year.
Unlike fellow Ferrari customers Haas, Alfa Romeo continue to develop much of the rest of their car. Some of the other alterations have come about as a result of the new aerodynamic rules. These include the reduction in height of the diffuser beneath the rear wing, as can also be seen below.
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Use the sliders below to transition between images of the 2021 and 2020 Alfa Romeo F1 cars.
Side
Rear
Front
Note these images may have been altered for ease of comparison and should not be used as a reference for measurements.
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Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
22nd February 2021, 12:05
As I expected, the front wing looks vastly different from their previous designs, very similar to last year’s Ferrari front wing. The rear seems to be more tightly packaged as well.
Re-Play- (@re-play)
22nd February 2021, 12:22
i like it more than last year, i just hope ferrari goes Merc type of nose as well.
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
22nd February 2021, 12:51
I doubt they will be able/allowed to, as they already used their tokens for a revised gearbox and rear suspension.
Re-Play- (@re-play)
22nd February 2021, 12:22
i like it more than last year.
bosyber (@bosyber)
22nd February 2021, 12:30
That nose reminds me of the previous McLaren effort, before they went fully to Mercedes nose mimic
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd February 2021, 13:35
Like I said on the mclaren reveal, now it is harder to join the slim nose bandwagon. Will the Polish sauber survive?
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
22nd February 2021, 14:21
I prefer the deep red on most of the rear end of the 2020 car. However, I think overall the look and packaging of the car is much tidier and looks more slick. Certainly from the side view.
petebaldwin (@)
22nd February 2021, 14:40
@phil-f1-21 If you compare it closely on the side view, I think it’s more similar than it appears. The difference is it doesn’t have that horrible shark fin on it so it makes the car look much sleeker. The line along the engine cover matches up perfectly with the 2020 car otherwise.
bosyber (@bosyber)
22nd February 2021, 14:51
The rear view also indicates quite a similar profile too @petebaldwin, I have to agree, it might be a bit more tight around the back, but not convinced it is a whole lot. Still, if their front works better, and the PU is improved, that should be a decent step.
Harry (@harrydymond)
22nd February 2021, 17:27
Hmmm. Not sure if I’m seeing what others are seeing. To me, if anything the back end looks a little bulkier (from the rear view), but this is complicated by the subtly different angle of the shot and the different paint jobs emphasising different aspects of the shape. The only obvious differences are the lack of a shark fin on the new car, and the slimmer nose.
David BR (@david-br)
22nd February 2021, 18:26
Sliders, good name for the series! I always presume the car on the right is this year’s, though, maybe just the European L-R reading convention. All these cars look pretty much the same this year, not unexpectedly.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
22nd February 2021, 19:57
Still a nice design, but a 5-minutes job exchanging last year’s livery colors. Hopefully the new front-end will bring some added performance compared to last year.
Win7Golf (@win7golf)
22nd February 2021, 22:25
So Alfa Romeu did the same as Alpha Tauri – inverted the livery colors.
The difference if that Alfa Romeo’s last year’s livery was a lot better than Alpha Tauri, so this years continues to better a lot better than the other Alfa/Alpha. :)