Alpine F1 have unveiled their 2021 A521 car ahead of the 2021 F1 season, which is set to be driven by Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.
Alpine’s A521 sees the brand make their official bow as a F1 team following Groupe Renault’s decision to rebrand their motorsport portfolio to promote the Alpine brand, which also sees Formula Regional European Championship merge with Formula Renault Eurocup to become Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine.
Speaking on the switch of team name which sees the Renault brand disappear from F1 once again, Esteban Ocon said: “I think it’s great to see the changes in the team and seeing new colours is always exciting.”
Ocon went on to speak of his ‘love’ for the new colours and commented on how ‘proud’ he is to see the French flag colour scheme used across the livery.
Fernando Alonso meanwhile returns to F1 after a two-year sabbatical as he replaces Daniel Ricciardo who joined McLaren for this season, with the Spaniard ‘extremely happy’ to return to the sport.
Alonso is currently recovering from a cycling accident but released a statement via Alpine’s Twitter feed in which he said: “I’m very motivated heading into this new chapter with Alpine, and it’s of course very special to be back with the team that I achieved so much with in the past.”
Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸
Alpine F1 Team Driver #14 pic.twitter.com/RtPgSVfizn— Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) March 2, 2021
Daniil Kvyat will join the team as Reserve Driver after losing his seat at AlphaTauri at end of 2020, with the Russian ‘very excited’ to seal the move and believes that Alpine is ‘very technologically advanced’ with ‘strong’ development.
Kvyat hopes to bring his six seasons worth of F1 experience to the team, adding: “I will try to bring my experience on and off track to help develop the A521 and future cars as well. As a Reserve Driver you need to keep sharp and I look forward to integrating into the team in several different areas.”
Guanyu Zhou will continue as Test Driver despite the rebrand whilst once again racing in Formula Two with UNI-Virtuosi for a third consecutive season.
‘Important milestone’
Alpine Chief Executive Officer, Laurent Rossi who replaces Cyril Abiteboul as the main boss, hailed this moment as ‘an important milestone’ for the Alpine name in terms of moving to the forefront of Groupe Renault’s innovation plans for the future.
Rossi also iterated that the team’s objective is to build on last season’s momentum achieved under the Renault name, saying: “This year our objective is clear, to continue the momentum that was garnered last year and fight for podiums.”
Alpine’s long-term aim though is to achieve race victories and stand ‘on the top step of the podium’ within F1.
Davide Brivio joins the team as Racing Director after guiding Joan Mir and Suzuki to the title double in MotoGP last season, taking charge of trackside operations and will report to Rossi throughout this season.
Brivio admitted that the move from two to four wheels is ‘an interesting challenge’ but is determined to deliver, despite already seeing a huge difference in design and development of the vehicles across both series.
The Italian also spoke of feeling that there are a lot of crossovers between F1 and MotoGP, saying: “Formula 1 and MotoGP are both team led sports with similar dynamics in terms of a group of people interacting and creating a working environment together.
“Drivers and riders will have similar problems and ways of fixing them, while keeping together a good, group spirit.”
Alpine Chief Executive, Marcin Budkowski meanwhile will oversee the running of the whole team and ensure alignment in collaboration between Chassis and Power Unit entities split between Enstone , UK, and Viry-Chatillon, France.
Budkowski spoke of the need to strike a balance between developing this season’s car and preparing for a huge revamp in technical rules in 2022, which is something that all teams face, commenting: “All teams are facing these decisions and it will be fascinating to see how early they will switch their focus to 2022 and what impact it will have on this year’s championship.”
Groupe Renault Chief Executive, Luca De Meo spoke at the launch in which he hailed the opportunity to see Alpine’s name on a F1 car as ‘a true joy’, with fresh colours, management and ambitious plans as the team begins a new era building on their 40 plus year history in F1 across various forms.
De Meo vowed to deliver a merged blend of Alpine’s values, saying: “We’ll combine Alpine’s values of authenticity, elegance and audacity with our in-house engineering & chassis expertise.”