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Graham Read
Formula 1 Correspondent
10:05 AM 18th February 2019
sports

Alfa Romeo Completes The 2019 F1 Grid

 
Alfa Romeo Racing’s 2019 car, accompanied by new drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi plus team principal Frédéric Vasseur
Alfa Romeo Racing’s 2019 car, accompanied by new drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi plus team principal Frédéric Vasseur
Alfa Romeo Racing has been the last Formula 1 team to officially unveil its new challenger, doing so at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain just before the first day of pre-season testing began.

Last year the Swiss-based outfit was called the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 team, but for the new season the word Sauber has been dropped although many of the former Sauber personnel remain in situ. It’s a shame that the last link to Peter Sauber, whose squad first entered Formula 1 back in 1993, has gone, but F1 is a sport which moves forward relentlessly and sentiment is an emotion often in short supply.

On the positive side it is great to see the Alfa Romeo name back in motorsport’s highest category as an entrant in its own right and it will be interesting to see just how competitive the team, a sibling to Ferrari, can be.

The car again has a striking red and white livery, but with increased use of Alfa Romeo red and its company logo being more prominent on the power unit cover. The halo protection structure has also changed from white to red.

Red Bull’s more traditional livery for this year after the garish paintwork of the launch car
Red Bull’s more traditional livery for this year after the garish paintwork of the launch car
The team has a mixed pairing of new drivers. When Ferrari opted to take on young Charles Leclerc from the Alfa Romeo Sauber team for this year, the veteran Kimi Räikkönen found himself heading in the opposite direction, but the 39 year old Finn, a former champion back in 2007, will bring a vast amount of welcome experience with him.

The other Alfa seat will be occupied by 25 year old Italian driver Antonio Giovinazzi, who had some limited F1 experience with the Sauber team in early 2017 as a stand-in for the injured Pascal Wehrlein and last year was a development driver for Ferrari.

In other F1 news, the Red Bull team has released images of the true livery of its car for this season after the garish red and blue paintwork of the challenger at the launch last week.

So, all is now set for the teams to get to know their new cars and drivers at the two four-day tests this week and next before the opening Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne, Australia in mid March.

Bring it on.