Alfa Romeo Racing becomes the fourth team to hit the track at Fiorano in Italy with its 2019 F1 car with Kimi Raikkonen driving.
With the name change done – going from Sauber to Alfa Romeo Racing, a livery change remains a possibility for the Swiss-Italian team. To start off their 2019 campaign, both Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi visited Alfa Romeo’s base in Italy on Wednesday.
The car is scheduled to be launched on Day 1 of the Barcelona test on February 18 but the team has already started to tease with certain pictures on social media. A full car image eventually made its way with the outfit in a middle of a shakedown at Fiorano.
Seems is going to be a vibrant Valentine’s Day.. 💨😍#ALoveStory #RomeoAndGiulia#AlfaRomeoRacing pic.twitter.com/CcdxVH6FSo
— Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber (@stakef1team_ks) February 14, 2019
The images show Raikkonen driving the yet-to-be-named car with a striking new livery in the combination of red and black showcasing little hearts & leaves – possibly for Valentine’s Day. Alfa Romeo’s run is first for a Ferrari-powered car on track this year.
While the Finn has had his run, Giovinazzi so far hasn’t got his chance. The car itself doesn’t seem like the final version with certain parts not looking to go with the 2019 rules, especially the front wing.
As for the livery, it is all for a guess work, whether they keep the one showed as the final version or change it. Alfa Romeo track run comes after Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, who all had their 100km filming day work done on Pirelli tyres on Wednesday.
UPDATE: The shakedown press release confirmed that the livery was indeed one-off as Valentine’s Day special. Unlike other teams, only Raikkonen drove the new car and completed 33 laps in all as they ran all the system check.
Interestingly, the team revealed that Giovinazzi had to go back and forth the airport to collect a part, which was important for the day’s run as it was the part which was needed to assemble the car for Raikkonen to head out.
“We had a good session on track,” said Raikkonen. “The car felt good and I was able to get a first impression of the car we will be running this season. We will work on the last few details and head to Barcelona for two weeks of testing.
“I look forward to getting to know the car better there.” The 2019 F1 car and livery will be revealed just before the start of Day 1 of Barcelona test with a scheduled time of 8:20 AM CET set for the launch.
Team principal, Frederic Vasseur said: “It was a positive day for us at Fiorano. We ran the 2019 car for the first time and were able to assess the progress we have made in our development ahead of the first tests in Barcelona next week.
“The whole team is pushing to start the season with the best possible base. Our drivers and crew are motivated, and we look forward to heading into the championship and delivering a strong performance.”
And finally, the team’s technical director, Simone Resta added: “After a long winter we are happy to be on track with our new car for the first time. The focus of our work today was on aerodynamic, set-up and cooling checks.
“We ran for a total of 33 laps and will use our data to establish how the new regulations will affect the behaviour of our car. The next two weeks which we will spend in Barcelona will be busy and will concentrate on proving the car’s reliability and performance.”
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1096039854494892032
https://twitter.com/SauberF1Team/status/1096074067579408384
https://twitter.com/SauberF1Team/status/1096097480863813632
Eccola pic.twitter.com/KoQtIJp55H
— Giuliano Duchessa (@GiulyDuchessa) February 14, 2019
Sembra solo Kimi Raikkonen alla guida oggi. #AlfaRomeoRacing #FUnoAT #F1 pic.twitter.com/gMdvjvIqpC
— Giuliano Duchessa (@GiulyDuchessa) February 14, 2019
2019 F1 launches so far: