Alpine has rounded out Formula One’s launch season by becoming the 10th and final team to reveal its 2023 car.
The Alpine A523 ran on track for the first time during a private shakedown at Silverstone on Monday, but the French team waited until Thursday to reveal the car at an event in London.
The car carries the hopes of Esteban Ocon and new Alpine recruit Pierre Gasly, who replaces Fernando Alonso to create an all-French driver lineup.
As was the case last year, the team has two liveries for the season, one in blue and pink, and one entirely in the pink of title sponsor BWT. The full pink livery will run at the first three races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Australia before switching to blue for the rest of the year.
Alpine beat McLaren to fourth place in the championship standings last year, finishing best of the rest behind F1’s big three teams, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.
Team principal Otmar Szafnauer said the team’s target this year was to be “a lot closer to third and further away from fifth than we were before.”
Technical director Matt Harman said the team had set itself aggressive targets this year and made significant changes to a number of components, including switching the rear suspension from a pull-rod design to push-rod.
He also revealed the A523 was below the new 796kg minimum weight limit, meaning Alpine’s engineers can play with ballast to optimise the car’s weight distribution for each circuit.
The A523 ran without any issues during its 100km shakedown at Silverstone, which was run to F1’s promotional event rules.
The next time the car hits the track will be in Bahrain for the start of preseason testing on Feb. 23.
Alpine also used the launch to confirm Australian Formula 2 driver Jack Doohan as its reserve driver.
Source: www.espn.com