Romeo. Romeo. Where Art Thou Alfa Romeo?

By Joe Murphy

Let’s take a look at the remaining liveries revealed to us in Formula 1 recently.

A sense of De-Ja-Vu as Alpine sees pink.

The penultimate installment of this seasons stunning revelations came in the form of French constructor, Alpine. With the Ocon/Alonso duo remaining in their place for the coming year, the team have showcased a striking new livery for 2022. Rather uniquely, the design encompasses a colour ‘flip’ plan for the opening races, as the French team strive to improve on their fifth place finish last term. It was a year full of high and low points, for the team formerly known as Renault. Everybody will be hoping for visible improvements this campaign.

The ‘A522’ is predominantly blue but also has large splashes of pink to celebrate a their new sponsor, BWT. The look the team have adopted for the first two races of the season is a near mirror image of the Racing Point car from 2020, with the colour patterns reversed for these Grand Prix so remains a near-identical replica of the car that Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll raced in only a couple of years ago. One thing is for sure, testing will be crucial for Alpine, who will hope to be nearer to McLaren and further away from the likes of Alpha Tauri and Aston Martin, in the standings.

Alfa Romeo complete the lineup…

And just like that, the grid has it’s completed look. Alfa Romeo became the final team to reveal their 2022 car. The christened “C42” sticks with the now traditional, bold, striking red and white livery that the team has ‘worn’, for a number of years now.

The team ran a special camouflage design during three days of pre-season running in Barcelona, with the lineup of Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu and reserve driver Robert Kubica, sharing driving stints across the days and getting their first taste of the car they will use for the coming year.

However, as striking as the temporary camouflage design was, the car remained in the garage for long spells over the testing period, due to mechanical issues. As a result, they only ran 154 laps, the second lowest distance of any team. There is hope for a better showing in final tests to come from Bahrain, later in the month.

As Hinwil celebrates 30 years in the sport, the latest look is said to be “a subtle nod to the past, recalling historical designs of years past and the heritage of Alfa Romeo and Sauber Motorsport”, according to Team Principal Fred Vasseur. He went on to reveal his optimism ahead of a season where the constructor hope to improve on their ninth place finish from 2021. “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.”

Furthermore, he seemingly argued in support of the regulation changes the sport has introduced for the coming year, and gave us just a glimpse of what that could mean, for Alfa Romeo and their prospects; “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.” He also proclaimed he was equal parts confident and hopeful, that the changes made could result in Alfa Romeo, moving up the grid. Aesthetically, the red and white look is one of the most spectacular on the grid today, and I for one am glad to see it return.