New Alpine A523 completes F1 launch season

Last but definitely not least, Alpine has wrapped up F1 launch season by revealing its new 2023 car in London. And as expected the livery mixes the car company’s traditional blue with the pink of title sponsor BWT.

Named the A523, the team says the car is an ‘evolution’ of last year’s design, but also claims ‘radical development’ has taken place over the winter as it targets fourth place in the constructors’ championship again, albeit “in a much more convincing fashion” in the words of team principal Otmar Szafnauer.

You won’t have forgotten that Alpine gave us one of the most dramatic driver sagas ever last year, as it conspired to lose Fernando Alonso to Aston Martin for 2023, then ‘replaced’ him with reserve driver Oscar Piastri… who (rightly, it turned out) denied signing a valid contract and jumped ships to McLaren.

That forced the team to look elsewhere and it eventually acquired the services of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who for years endured a well-known rift with… existing Alpine driver Esteban Ocon. Awkward.

The French pair reportedly fell out years ago having first met as karting hopefuls aged nine, but they’ve now buried the hatchet (publically, at least) for the greater good of the team.

It was telling that both Szafnauer and company CEO Laurent Rossi made reference to their working relationship at the reveal. “I have high expectations from everyone in the team – not least Esteban and Pierre – who will work collaboratively to deliver the best possible results for the team,” said the former, while Rossi added: “They must lead the team professionally both on and off track and contribute to the team’s success in reaching its goals.”

No need to read between the lines there.

Time for a quick word from the drivers themselves. “The livery looks fantastic – it really stands out – and I’m sure it’s going to look amazing on track,” said Ocon “I have been working very hard over the winter to prepare for the start of the season, I feel like I’m in really good shape and, right now, I’m certainly ready to go racing again.”

Meanwhile Gasly had this to say: “It is great to see the dedication that everyone at Enstone and Viry applies to their daily jobs in consistently pushing forwards and I cannot wait to get started in helping the team to reach its objectives for the year.”

The car’s already had its first shakedown at Silverstone with pre-season testing to come next week. Incidentally the team will run an all-pink livery for the first three races of the season in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia, before reverting to blue with pink highlights.

Right, we’ve seen the Haas, Red Bull, Williams, Alfa Romeo, AlphaTauri, McLaren, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Mercedes and this. Which is your favourite?