The Alfa Romeo C42 is a Formula One car designed and built by Alfa Romeo to compete in the 2022 Formula One World Championship. The C42 is built to the new generation of technical regulations, originally intended for introduction in 2021.
The car was driven by former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and rookie Zhou Guanyu.
The C42 follows the C41, which in turn follows the C39. The new-generation car had been internally allocated the designation C40 in anticipation of new regulations for the 2021 season. When these were delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new car, the C41, had to be developed based on the C39 for the interim regulations. However, ahead of the car's unveiling, Alfa Romeo stated that the car would not carry the C40 but instead carry the C42 designation to avoid the sequence of C39, C41, C40, which could have been confusing
Bottas commented that the early version of the C42 ran on the Alfa Romeo simulator did not handle significantly differently to the 2021 cars.
Alfa Romeo used push-rod suspension on both the front and rear, in contrast to the push-rod front and pull-rod rear that had become standard in the turbo-hybrid era. The C42 has the shortest wheelbase of any 2022 car. It packages its Ferrari engine much the same as the works team, with wide sidepods featuring cooling louvres over the top. Alfa Romeo developed several major components in-house rather than sourcing them from Ferrari as it and its predecessor team Sauber had done since Sauber became a Ferrari customer team in 2010. These parts include the fuel tank, rear suspension, and exterior structure of the gearbox (the interior components of the gearbox are still Ferrari-sourced). Technical Director Jan Monchaux listed Formula One's new budget regulations and greater engineering freedom and independence as reasons why Alfa Romeo decided to design these components independently.
The C42 was the only car to weigh less than the original minimum weight requirement of 795 kg (1,753 lb). Several other teams lobbied the FIA to increase the minimum weight, with a compromise reached to raise the minimum weight limit to 798 kg (1,759 lb).
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