Alpine has revealed a visually-striking new blue and pink look for the A522, featuring a new title sponsor with water company BWT.
The French car manufacturer has changed its colour schemes for this season, thanks to new BWT, whose branding and iconic pink corporate colour features on the front wing, sidepods and rear wing.
The A522 features a push-rod suspension at the front, with pull-rod at the rear. The nose is more raised in relation to the front wing than some other rival cars, with very narrow inlets at the sidepods, which feature cooling gills that some other teams have adopted.
The new livery and car comes after a winter of wider change at the outfit, following a management shake-up undertaken by CEO Laurent Rossi.
He has brought in former Aston Martin team boss Otmar Szafnauer as team principal, with former FIA man Bruno Famin joining to help head up Renault’s engine division at Viry-Chatillon.
Rossi says that the minimum target for Alpine this year is fifth position in the constructors’ championship, but he is eager to go one better.
Presenting your #A522#A522Launch pic.twitter.com/2uoK5nv1ow
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) February 21, 2022
“We have multiple ambitions,” he said about the target for the season ahead. “Fifth is the minimum we need to target after last year’s performance.
“So far, we have hit our targets and we are happy with the progress we are showing, but we have to be realistic that this year all the cards are thrown in the air. We don’t know where we are going to be until we all hit the track.
“However, what we all need to bear in mind is that where we start isn’t important; it’s where we finish. We need to continue to show improvement, targeting operational excellence and progress throughout the year.”
Alpine is continuing with its driver line-up of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with Oscar Piastri taking on the reserve driver role.
Szafnauer’s arrival as team principal comes after Rossi felt that Alpine needed a management tweak last winter, with executive director Marcin Budkowski subsequently leaving.
While there is no confirmed date yet set for Szafnauer’s arrival, Rossi believes that the qualities he can bring will help drive the team forward.
Szafnauer was present at the team’s launch.
“I’m a firm believer in passion, teamwork and respect for the individual,” he said. “We have to be passionate about what we do, whatever the task.
“A high-performing team’s key to success has, and always will be, teamwork. We’ll control what we are able to control, we’ll enjoy our journey, and we’ll enjoy the racing because that is what we’re here to do.
“As a team, we’re all racers and that is why we enjoy our work in Formula 1. With this passion and teamwork, I know success will come.”
Official website:
https://www.alpinecars.com/fr/formule-1/alpine-a522/
Social media:
https://twitter.com/AlpineF1Team/status/1495817498201145350
https://twitter.com/AlpineF1Team/status/1495821342754680837
News stories:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alpine-to-run-pink-flipped-f1-livery-for-first-two-races/8377026/
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.alpine-unveil-blue-and-pink-2022-challenger-the-a522.37RIZP9p7FyPIFrS1bwIzv.html
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.gallery-check-out-alpines-special-pink-livery-for-the-bahrain-and-saudi.3mh7BVJ5iKd300PH9IZiML.html
https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12473/12548235/alpine-launch-2022-f1-car-striking-new-blue-and-pink-look-revealed-with-colour-flip-plan-in-place
https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12548261/alpine-reveal-new-blue-and-pink-car
https://www.racefans.net/2022/02/21/first-pictures-alpine-presents-new-livery-2022-f1-season/
https://www.racefans.net/2022/02/21/alpine-found-real-gains-from-redesigned-renault-power-unit-for-2022/
‘It’s like the cards have been redistributed’ – Alpine drivers excited for ‘fresh start’ in 2022. Formula1.com provides the story.
Alpine team mates Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso have shown off their new charger, the A522, in a launch show in Paris – with the pair aiming to end 2022 with “no regrets” as Formula 1 moves into a new era of regulations.
The blue and pink A522 became the ninth 2022 car to be officially unveiled in Alpine’s glitzy launch, as the team showed off both the new machine, new colours and new Team Principal, in the shape of former Aston Martin boss Otmar Szafnauer.
It was Ocon who claimed the Alpine brand’s first ever win in 2021 with his own maiden victory at the Hungaroring. And the Frenchman said he was relishing the chance for a “fresh start” for the team – who finished sixth in the 2021 constructors’ standings – as Formula 1’s radical new regulations come online in 2022.
“This year is extremely exciting for Formula 1 and for us as a team,” said Ocon. “It’s like the cards have been redistributed, it’s a fresh start and there is going to be a real mix without immediately knowing who will be at the front.
“We don’t know what will happen; you could say that provides some anxiety, heading into the unknown, but I find that exciting. It’s not necessarily about who will start the season the quickest, but more about who will end it the quickest. We know there will be a high rate of development from all the teams through the year, almost like a race in the design offices away from the track!
“It’s going to be a great challenge for us drivers, where hopefully we can follow cars closer and enjoy some closer racing. Let’s see, though; all of this is subject to confirmation and we will have a much clearer picture at the end of the tests.
“We don’t know where our competitors will be, but we will concentrate only on ourselves,” added Ocon. “You always hear rumours from other teams. Some will be ahead of the game, others not, but it’s hard to tell. What I do know is that we will push flat out! Our aim is to come out from race weekends with no regrets and deliver everything possible with what we have. That is how I am approaching the season.”
Team mate Alonso spent part of January recovering from jaw surgery following a cycling accident last year. And the two-time champion – who former Renault Technical Director Pat Symonds has tipped to shine under the new rules – said there was a “real feeling of optimism” in the squad ahead of hitting the track for pre-season running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 23.
“We have been asking for closer racing between cars, especially in the corners,” said Alonso. “We will have to wait and see if these regulations allow closer racing, but I will never be upset with the idea of more exciting racing. The sport is moving in the right direction off track too, thanks to the introduction of things like a budget cap. We hope it can bring more fairer racing between all of the teams with limits on spending to stop others outspending the rest.
“Last year was more of a transitional one for the team and obviously a continuation of the 2020 cars,” added Alonso, who scored the first podium of his F1 comeback in Qatar last year. “This year, though, there is a real feeling of optimism in the team. We’ve worked hard in Enstone and Viry over the winter.
“We will not know where everyone stands until the cars are wheeled out for the first time in Barcelona, but the anticipation of this moment is always special for everyone involved!”
ANALYSIS: Have Alpine discovered an aerodynamic sweet spot with distinctive A522? Formula1.com article:
A first glance at the computer render of the Alpine A522 which will shake down on Tuesday at Barcelona suggests it’s a neat-looking car.
The visual points of distinction between the A522 and other cars we’ve seen so far in this 2022 launch period are short, heavily downward-ramped sidepods which form a completely separate structure from a deep engine cover, without the converging of the two parts of bodywork seen on other cars.
New PU
That engine cover shrouds Alpine’s all-new power unit, which adopts a split turbo architecture, some eight years after Mercedes introduced the concept in the first year of the hybrid formula.
The ERS system is considerably lighter than before, and the cooling requirement of the whole package has been reduced significantly. This has made possible a more cooling package which is 15% smaller than before, and the previous car’s unsightly bulbous engine cover has gone.
Distinctive aerodynamics
Within the lower flanks of the engine cover, sitting inboard and above the sidepods, are a set of cooling louvres. Forward and outboard of those, on the upper surfaces of the sidepods, are further louvres before the pods ramp sharply downwards to accelerate the airflow between the rear wheels and diffuser outlets. This ramped section of the sidepod is free of louvres.
So far, the other ’22 cars have had either a downward-ramped pod without louvres or a relatively flat sidepod top with louvres. The Alpine, in sharply separating out the engine cover area from the sidepods, has been able to incorporate both the downward ramp and the louvres. Might it give them the best compromise between the two?
Aerodynamically, it features a slim nose, with quite rounded sides which helps bring the airflow over the nose downwards more effectively than straight edges. We cannot be certain if the wing and radiator inlets are the same on the render as on the actual car we’ll see on track, but those inlets are slate-like, rather like the Ferrari’s.
There is a significant undercut beneath them to accelerate the airflow around the sides of the sidepods. The car retains a conventional push-rod front/pull-rod rear suspension layout. The detailing around the floor edges is very bland, suggesting it’s not representative of the real thing.