Alpine have unveiled their A523 race car to compete in 2023 F1 season.
Having finished fourth in the constructor standings last season with a season-best finish of fourth place in Japan courtesy of Esteban Ocon, Alpine will be looking to progress further and fight for podiums if not victories this season.
Alpine though have a new driver line-up as Ocon is joined by his French compatriot, Pierre Gasly who moves from AlphaTauri to create an all French driver pairing for the French team, as Gasly replaces Fernando Alonso who has moved to Aston Martin.
There however wasn’t much change in the livery as Alpine retained their pre-dominant blue livery with splashes of pink displaying their sponsor – BWT logo across front and rear wings, plus sidepods.
Alpine though have dropped the French flag feature on the rear of their sidepod in favour of a black dotted pattern across a blue background.
Like last season, Alpine will however not debut the livery in-season at the opening race and will instead run their pink livery at the opening three races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia, before returning to their main livery from Azerbaijan onwards in late April.
Speaking at the launch, Ocon is excited “to get the season underway to continue the upwards trajectory from last year,” after participating in the pre-season test from 23-25 February in Bahrain.
Gasly meanwhile described his first launch as part of the Alpine team as “fantastic” and can’t wait to explore “… the potential and capabilities of the A523 at pre-season testing and to continue getting more comfortable with the team.”
Jack Doohan meanwhile will be Alpine’s reserve driver this season alongside his F2 commitments with Virtuosi, as he missed Alpine’s launch due to his involvement in this week’s F2 pre-season test in Bahrain.
Team Principal, Otmar Szafnauer added that there is “excitement and anticipation” within the team ahead of the new season, off the back of their “fantastic feeling” at finishing fourth last season.
Szafnauer also added that there is just one aim for this season, as he said: “For 2023, the aim is simple: at a minimum, we must finish in fourth and in a much more convincing fashion.
“By that, it means, more finishes, more points and less unforced retirements. 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.”