The new course of Alpine, to understand the post Fernando Alonso era, officially began today. The Enstone-based team fired up their engines for the first time for the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Alpine has released a video of just over a minute in which, with an eloquent shot, the turbo V6 made by Renault can be heard accelerated, with consequent gear changes.
The French team will be the only one to use Renault engines also in the season which will start in just over a month in Sakhir, Bahrain, and this is why today’s fire-up becomes even more important.
All this while waiting for the official presentation of the A523, which will take place on February 16 in London.
The team directed by Otmar Szafnauer will thus return to physically present a single-seater after a few years in which they preferred to unveil their new creature with virtual presentations, waiting to put the car on the track in the pre-season tests.
For Alpine, as mentioned, it will be a new beginning. He will certainly have Esteban Ocon as a fixed point, but in place of Fernando Alonso – who moved to Aston Martin in place of the retired Sebastian Vettel – there will be Pierre Gasly.
An even more French reality, waiting to understand if Gasly will be able to grow further having returned from excellent years in AlphaTauri and if Esteban Ocon, freed from the Alonso burden at his side, will be able to take the team by the hand at least in the early days.
The A523 will be eagerly awaited, because it will have to be the decisive – or at least important – step to bring Alpine closer to the three top teams that won all the season’s races in 2022. The gap that separates the Enstone team from Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes is still wide: it will be up to the A523, Ocon and Gasly to bring the blue brand back to its former glory.
#Alpine #fire #A523 #engine #Ocon #Gasly