Alpine unveils 2023 F1 challenger in London
Alpine has become the latest team to unveil its new 2023 Formula 1 car, the A523, at a Thursday night team launch in London.
Alpine will continue racing with a French racing blue and BWT pink livery on the A523, although it too follows the recent trend of leaving parts of its car in unpainted carbon fibre to save weight.
As in 2022, the team also presented a second, predominantly pink livery which will be used in the opening three races in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
Drivers Esteban Ocon and newcomer Pierre Gasly, who joins from AlphaTauri, presented a car which appears to build on the strengths of its predecessor, the A522.
Last year Ocon and Fernando Alonso enjoyed a solid year for the French manufacturer as it leapfrogged McLaren to claim fourth place in the constructors' championship, behind top teams Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes.
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One of the A523's most eye-catching changes is a bulkier lateral part of the engine cover, which was also seen on the Mercedes W14. Technical director Matt Harman disclosed that Alpine has also changed from a pullrod to a pushrod rear suspension in order to take weight out of the car, clean up the airflow and make the rear end easier to service for the mechanics.
Ocon and Gasly will be hoping the A523 proves more reliable than its predecessor, with a spate of retirements preventing the team from scoring even better results in 2022.
Ocon and Alonso retired from seven races last season, with the Spaniard suffering the brunt of Alpine's reliability issues as its Renault power unit proved an Achilles' heel.
Alpine A523
Photo by: Alpine
Alonso has since moved to Aston Martin, with Ocon now forming an all-French partnership with Gasly, who signed a multi-year deal with Alpine last October.
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The French duo got a first taste of the A523 at a Silverstone shakedown on Monday, with Ocon completing nine laps before Gasly took over and ran a further eight laps until the team reached its 100km allowance for filming days.
Alpine's 2023 ambition is to continue on its 100-race plan to win a world championship, a roadmap which it embarked on last year.
According to team boss Otmar Szafnauer that means that the team has to continue showing progress and be "closer to third than to fifth".
"We have to take a step closer to being able to win a championship, which is what we wanted to do in 100 races," he said.
"That 100 started at the beginning of [2022], so it's less than 80 from now on.
"We need to do the same, but we need to be closer to third than we are to fifth. So even if we stay fourth, we've got to make progress."
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