Alfa Romeo have pulled the covers back on their C43 car to be used in the upcoming 2023 Formula 1 season.
The Sauber team showed off their new machine at an event in Zurich on Tuesday morning. Drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu will hope it will be an upgrade on their 2022 car, which started very strongly but faded as the season progressed.
Alfa Romeo became the fourth team to show off their new design. Haas kicked-off livery reveal season on January 31 with a social media reveal. Red Bull followed with a huge New York City event, while Williams also hosted a live stream – though theirs got straight to the point and showed off the car colours straight away.
But there is a significant difference to Alfa's event compared to the other teams. While the first three were simply livery reveals, Mirror Sport understands the C43 presented at their launch show is an actual representation of their car's aero design for the upcoming season.
The car reveal comes after Alfa Romeo announced a new name sponsor, gambling firm Stake. Former sponsors ORLEN have announced a new deal with AlphaTauri, and the departure of the Polish company means Robert Kubica is no longer their reserve driver.
His departure is not the only major personnel change at Sauber of late. Former McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl is the new chief executive of the group, while managing director Alessandro Alunni Bravi is the 'team representative' representing Alfa Romeo on race weekends.
Following the reveal of the new C43, the team's technical director Jan Monchaux explained some of the work that had gone into the development, detailing how the rear axis, rear suspension and gearbox casing had been changed. Those moves allowed them to open the door to a new layout and develop the bodywork for the new car.
“To unleash that next level of performance we had to do all those changes," he said. "It’s been quite a journey for us because it’s a big complex part we had to redo.
"Evidently all the rear end works with the floor alongside the new rake. So we’ve really been putting in a lot of effort on the second part of the car. The front will be successively developed during the season.”
Also participating in the launch event were the team's drivers - Bottas, Zhou and reserve Theo Pourchaire - and the experienced Finn was asked if he still gets excited by launch events ahead of his latest season in the sport.
“I get this question quite a lot, do you still get excited, but you always do," he said. "We’re racers and we’re really fortunate people to be able to get to drive this kind of machinery, which has been engineered for God knows how many days. So many hours have gone into it and it’s a real privilege to see the car and especially drive it as well."
When asked by reporter Tom Clarkson, who was hosting the event, how many hours had gone into creating the new car Monchaux couldn't help but joke.
"If you ask my wife too many," he responded. "And if you ask myself probably not enough".
