How Alfa Romeo kept rivals puzzled over their fake launch floor during car reveal

Over a month after their car reveal, Alfa Romeo accepted that the floor of the C43 that was visible on the car during the launch program was a complete fake compared to what the team had originally designed.

The Alfa Romeo car launch event that was held in Zurich was something to watch. With new members in the team and a much different livery than the previous season, all eyes were set on the car, but one part of the C43 had too much attention from the analysts: the car's floor.

Formula 1 cars are extremely complex and even the smallest changes can turn out to make the cars either extremely competitive or the contrary. Hence, whenever a new change in the aero design of the cars is noticed, it gains a lot of attention from rival teams. When Alfa Romeo used a serrated type of floor for the C43, much different from the traditional floor, it had a fair impact on the teams.

While it is completely legal and in terms of the sport's regulations, it has now been revealed that the team never intended to use it. During the pre-season testing at Barcelona, they had a much more traditional floor. Insiders from the team accepted that the serrated design during the car launch was put in for fun and to distract rival teams.

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Could the non-traditional floor on the Alfa Romeo helped them to perform better?

As mentioned before, the smallest of innovations in Formula 1 cars can help bring a huge evolution in the sport. This has been noted several times in the past when car designers put in a subtle design innovation only for it to be followed by the entire grid later.

The aerodynamics of an F1 car are such to produce extreme downforce at the highest of speeds, and the design of the car has a major contribution to it. Teams in F1 constantly work to produce high downforce at high speeds so that their cornering abilities are better which would, in the end, help in overtaking their rivals.

In the same way, the serrated floor of the Alfa Romeo was something to look at. Because of that design, it can be theoretically said that an air passage could have been created around the floor, directing the airflow in a better way to and from the car, thus, producing better downforce (perhaps).