"La vie en rose": the word is from the CEO of Renault Luca de Meo, when unveiling at the Palais de Tokyo the new F1 Alpine which will be adorned with a little pink, the color of its new title sponsor BWT.

An even stronger testimony to the Austrian water treatment group, the Alpine livery will be almost entirely pink during the first two Grands Prix of the season, in Bahrain (March 20) then in Saudi Arabia (March 27).

Former long-time partner of Force India and then of Racing Point (now Aston Martin), BWT is following the same path as the former managing director of Aston Martin, the American Otmar Szafnauer, new director of the Alpine team.

Alpine wants to see life in pink, to think only of the good sides of things.

And dismiss the bad after a lackluster 2021 season: despite Ocon's first victory in the elite in Hungary and Alonso's podium in Qatar, Alpine only finished 5th in the constructors' world championship .

The team also experienced major changes in management at the start of 2021, under the leadership of Alpine president Laurent Rossi, with the departure of its executive directors Marcin Budkowski and non-executive directors, former driver Alain Prost.

The new director of the Alpine team Otmar Szafnauer speaking during the presentation of the single-seater "A522" in Paris, February 21, 2022 FRANCK FIFE AFP

Will these changes put Alpine on the highway of great victories, currently reserved for Mercedes and Red Bull, as its management wishes before 2024?

The first answers will come this week with the first laps of the A522.

The single-seater will be released in Barcelona on Tuesday for the purposes of a private promotional run.

From Wednesday to Friday, the first three days of official pre-season testing will follow on this same Barcelona-Catalonia circuit, before three other days scheduled in Bahrain (March 10-12).

"More Action"

Alpine is the 9th team out of 10 to present the 2022 version of its single-seaters, with completely revised aerodynamics.

This season, F1 is introducing new regulations that are supposed to make it easier for cars to follow and overtake each other, promising more spectacle.

"If I came back to F1 it is for these changes, attractive on paper because normally we will be able to follow each other more closely, there will be more action in the race", explained the double world champion ( 2005, 2006) Alonso, returned to F1 last season aged 40.

The new Alpine "A522" single-seater presented at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, on February 21, 2022, two days before the pre-season tests FRANCK FIFE AFP

“We are almost going to start from scratch, we have zero experience with a car with such a concept, a car with tires like that (larger with a diameter of 18 inches compared to 13 before, editor’s note), we have a lot to learn, Fernando and I, from these tests in Barcelona," noted Ocon, 25.

Having won a GP last year "comforts him in the fact that our way of working works and that we have to continue that", estimated the Frenchman.

"As with any major regulatory change, there may be a change in hierarchy," Alonso wants to believe.

"This year will be a race on the track and off the track, on how many developments you can bring to each race, and we are ready for the challenge," concluded the Spaniard.

Already committed in addition to F1 in the world endurance championship, to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Alpine does not intend to stop there in motorsport.

"If we find the conditions to participate in the world rally championship, I want to do it with an electric car so today it's not exactly possible (the championship is using hybrid technology, editor's note), I want to do the Dakar too", raises the boss of Renault, Luca de Meo.

Renault CEO Luca De Meo gestures at the presentation of the Alpine "A522" single-seater in Paris, February 21, 2022 FRANCK FIFE AFP

"I want Alpine to become a kind of catalyst for all the technology of the French racing business", he continues, "to which everyone can connect and we can help this whole sector to rise".

In F1, Alpine, according to Laurent Rossi, wants to "ideally do at least 5th".

Waiting for new ambitions.

© 2022 AFP