During the last three days of testing in Barcelona, the Swiss team Alfa Romeo ran a special camouflage design, which featured rookie driver Zhou Guanyu, reserve driver Robert Kubica, and main driver Valtteri Bottas.

A series of mechanical issues kept the car in the garage for long periods, resulting in them managing just 175 laps.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN (@alfaromeoorlen)

On Sunday, they launched their season with a new livery that pays homage to the team's heritage and previous successes.

Fred Vasseur, the team's principal, praised the work of the team's many contributors. "The start of the season is always an exciting time, one in which we see the fruit of the work of hundreds of people over a long period of time," he said.

He stated that the C42 was their first car in the new regulations cycle and that they were confident that it would be a step forward in terms of performance.

"The C42 is a car we look forward to seeing racing, not just because it is the first we built in this new regulations cycle, one in which racing should be closer and more thrilling, but because we have the utmost confidence in this car helping the team make a big step forward towards the front of the grid," Vasseur noted.

Jan Monchaux, the team's technical director, said that it was a huge relief to finally launch the C42 but that this was just the beginning of a long journey for the team.

"Designing and building this car has been a huge undertaking and we can be proud of what we have achieved, but our work is not finished," Monchaux said. "As always in a new rules cycle, the development curve will be at its steepest this season and we need to continue extracting new performance out of the C42 to make the progress we have set as an objective for ourselves."

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN (@alfaromeoorlen)

Drivers' feedback
Bottas, who joined the team from Mercedes, said that he was excited about the season ahead, but he did not know how the first race would pan out.

"Since I joined, I have seen so much motivation within this team: everyone is pushing a lot, trying to work harder than the others to be competitive, and that in turn gives me that extra boost when I am in the cockpit," the 32-year-old driver said.

After finishing third in the 2021 F2 season, Chinese driver Zhou said he was fully focused on the upcoming campaign. He noted that the new regulations and cars make it an exciting time for all teams.

"Everyone at Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen has been incredibly helpful since I joined and seeing all the hard work, the commitment and motivation from everyone, in Hinwil and at the track, fills me with pride and excitement," said the rookie driver "I can't wait to be on the grid with this car and work with my team to bring home the results we are targeting together."

During the first pre-season test in Bahrain, which will take place on March 10, Alfa Romeo will get to test the new cars against their rivals.