AlphaTauri has become the latest team to unveil its livery for the 2023 Formula 1 season.
The scheme was unveiled in New York City on Saturday with the unveiling of the livery alongside the launch of its new clothing range. After last year’s struggles, AlphaTauri hopes its new look for 2023, with additional splashes of red for new partner Orlen, won’t go out of style.
The new car, the AT04, is due to take to the track in Misano, Italy for a review on Tuesday.
Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries will form the AlphaTauri driver line-up this season.
AlphaTauri slipped to ninth in last year’s championship, spending most of the campaign out of the points positions, with their AT03 a slow build. Racer Pierre Gasly pointed to his weight struggles as the main factor in his regression, comparing the extra weight to trying to run with a backpack. However, the car was aerodynamically inferior to its midfield counterparts and did not perform well, while AlphaTauri also frequently failed on the few occasions when opportunities presented themselves.
It was comfortably AlphaTauri’s least competitive season since its rebrand, carried out to promote Red Bull’s nascent apparel arm, in 2020.
Now it has also lost Gasly, its most competitive driver for most of the past five seasons, who took an unforgettable victory in 2020 and two more podiums.
Consequently, Tsunoda and de Vries will face scrutiny as the 2023 season progresses.
AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost has regularly spoken of young drivers needing three years to show their Formula 1 potential, and for Tsunoda 2023 will be the third year. This season he will need to step up to prove his long-term credentials, especially after Gasly’s departure.
De Vries is a slightly different recruit for AlphaTauri.
At 28, he is five years older than Tsunoda, but 2023 will be his rookie season after a star debut at Monza last year with Williams, an outing that convinced AlphaTauri to take a gamble.
This came after the initially confirmed Gasly was allowed to leave for Alpine, and also after AlphaTauri’s advances on IndyCar’s Colton Herta were rejected due to his Super Licence ineligibility.
De Vries won the Formula 2 crown in 2019, before adding the Formula E title in 2021, has sports car experience and has tested with Mercedes and Aston Martin in Formula 1.
Formula 1’s launch season continues on Monday when McLaren and Aston Martin unveil their new cars.
The American team Haas, meanwhile, successfully completed the shakedown of its VF-23 at Silverstone on Saturday at the hands of Kevin Magnussen.
