AlphaTauri’s Performance Drop-off in 2022 Disappointing for Technical Director Jody Egginton

Scuderia AlphaTauri ended the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season without adding to their points tally in Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly finishing eleventh and fourteenth respectively.

Both drivers tried different strategies in a bid to end the year with a top ten finish, but Jody Egginton, the Technical Director at AlphaTauri, admitted it was not possible to achieve the results that could have moved them into eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Tsunoda was forced into an earlier than planned switch to the soft tyre that ended up with him running out of performance before the end, while Gasly started on the softs but could not take advantage of fresher tyres later in the day to advance higher than fourteenth.

“Yuki put in a solid and consistent race today, fighting for the final points positions,” said Egginton. “Unfortunately, the timing of the last stop from [Alexander] Albon forced us onto the soft tyre a bit earlier than planned.

“This compound did not quite have enough left in it to keep the pressure up on [Sebastian] Vettel and [Daniel] Ricciardo for a top ten finish.

“Starting Pierre on the soft tyre was aggressive, but given he qualified out of position, we felt we had to take a risk to try and move forward quickly. This tyre actually performed reasonably well, meaning he was boxing in phase with the cars around him. 

“Whilst Pierre was outside the points, we extended the middle stint to see if any opportunity to take on the new tyre late would come around, however this was not the case and although we got him ahead of the Haas cars, we could not move him further forward towards the points.”

Egginton admitted the 2022 season did not pan out as AlphaTauri were hoping for, with the team slipping down to ninth in the final standings, ahead only of the Williams Racing team. 

They finished two points behind the Haas F1 Team, but Egginton says everyone will be looking to address the slide and come back fighting in 2023.

“It’s been a long season and unfortunately, we have not been able to deliver the level of performance of the previous two years in 2022, but the entire team is totally focused on addressing this for next year,” Egginton insisted.

Egginton also took time to thank Gasly for his ‘work and dedication’ throughout his time with the team, with the Frenchman now departing to join the BWT Alpine F1 Team next season.

“Finally, on behalf of the team I would like to thank Pierre for his hard work and dedication, he has been an important part of our success in recent seasons, and we wish him well in 2023,” he said.