AlphaTauri has revealed its 2023 Formula 1 car and a revised livery for the new season.
The colour scheme features significantly more red in deference to new sponsor Orlen – which has moved across from Alfa Romeo – and was unveiled both on a show car in an event at New York Fashion Week and on renders of what the team billed as the new AT04.
While the design on the renders does appear different – and certainly more so than was the case between sister team Red Bull’s 2022 car and what it claimed to be (at least an early version of) its 2023 design at its launch – there are also significant similarities that suggest what AlphaTauri brings to Bahrain testing later this month will not be quite what was shown tonight.
A higher cooling tunnel between the sidepod and engine cover, and shallower radiator inlets, are among the main visible changes so far.
The front wheel also appears to have been moved further forward to increase the gap between the front wheels and the front of the sidepods and floor for aerodynamic gain.
Last year AlphaTauri failed to follow up previous seasons’ strong performances that had included its shock Monza 2020 win with Pierre Gasly and times in 2021 when it was vying with Ferrari and McLaren to be the third-fastest car on raw pace.
It slumped to ninth in the constructors’ championship, disrupted by the process of moving to share Red Bull’s windtunnel during 2021 while trying to prepare for the major regulation change, and struggling with its strategy of substantial upgrade packages rather than regular incremental gains.
“We learned a lot from the AT03 along the course of its development and much of what we learned has gone forward into the general layout of the AT04 to address some of the weaknesses we identified,” said technical director Jody Egginton.
“In simple terms, we were lacking a little bit of downforce compared to our main competitors and there was an opportunity for mass reduction.”
The rapid but erratic Yuki Tsunoda stays on for a third season at AlphaTauri, but it is regarded as a last chance to prove he could be worthy of a future at senior team Red Bull Racing – which now feels a long shot.
Gasly’s departure for Alpine means Tsunoda is joined by Nyck de Vries, whose past Formula 2 and Formula E titles hadn’t led to an F1 chance before his impressive stand-in appearance for Williams in last year’s Italian Grand Prix coincided with AlphaTauri giving up on its hope of getting a superlicence for IndyCar star Colton Herta.
