"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.
The Alpine A522 will make its first laps in Barcelona on Tuesday for the purposes of a promotional private 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).
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 with its drivers Esteban Ocon (g) and Fernando Alonso, during its presentation in Paris, 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, winner of his first GP in Hungary last year.
© 2022 AFP