F1 team introductions: Alfa Romeo wants to move up the midfield battle. Bottas hopes for regular points finishes

With less than a week to go until the start of this year’s Formula 1 season, it’s time to introduce the ten teams that will be taking part. In this episode, we focus on Alfa Romeo/Sauber. This will be the last season for the Italian carmaker. At the end of the year, its partnership agreement with Sauber will end, with Audi joining forces at the end of 2026. Alfa Romeo’s future in F1 will be decided by the end of June.

Alfa Romeo in 2022

Alfa Romeo scored an unwanted first place last year. With 10 race retirements, the C42 became the most unreliable car on the grid.

The unreliability cost the Swiss stable quite a few points and almost cost them sixth place in the Constructors’ Cup. With a score of 55 points, Alfa Romeo was only beaten by Aston Martin thanks to its best finish in the race, namely Bottas’ fifth place in the VC Emilia Romagna.

Alfa Romeo scored the vast majority of points in the first half of the season. After the summer break, it scored just three times for a total of four points.

The big differences in points scored were also visible within the pair of drivers. Bottas scored 49 points, while Zhou scored just 6.

But even so, former team boss Frédéric Vasseur was extremely satisfied with the Shanghai native. Zhou scored on his debut in Bahrain and made seventeen passes in the first part of qualifying, twice in Q3.

The design of the monopost

The C43 car is not significantly different at first glance from last year’s, but it should solve its most important problems. The C42 was very limited by the airflow in the rear.

So there has been a major modification to the cooling system and the direction of the air flowing through it. The radiators have been moved to the higher part of the car, the structure of which allows better airflow over the top of the car.

The shape of the engine cover is now more reminiscent of last year’s Red Bull and directs more airflow from the radiator around the exhaust. Of course, these changes aren’t all positive; the higher radiator placement can result in a higher centre of gravity and with it, less stability for the car.

The new car’s livery follows almost the same pattern as last year’s C42. However, the team has decided to do away with the white colour altogether. Thus, for the most part, the car is unpainted and shows a black carbon fiber construction.

Team boss and main sponsor change, driver pairing stays the same

Frédéric Vasseur, who will replace Mattia Binotto at Ferrari this year, has been replaced as CEO by Andreas Seidl, who has left McLaren. He has appointed Aunni Bravi to the role of team boss.

Petrochemical company Orlen has also ended its sponsorship of the team after three years. The Polish firm has become a sponsor of AlphaTauri from this season. The new title sponsor of Alfa Romeo is the Curaçao-based betting agency Stake.

Alfa Romeo has decided not to change its line-up until 2023. He will drive alongside the experienced Valtteri Bottas in his second season in the queen of motorsport, Guangzhou.

The Finnish racer is not promising himself miracles from the new season. He sees a regular top-10 finish and, with luck, the occasional podium battle as a realistic goal.

Sources: RacingNews365, F1, Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake