FIRST LOOK: AlphaTauri reveal livery for 2023 AT04 at glitzy New York F1 season launch
AlphaTauri have become the latest F1 team to launch their 2023 season, showing off the livery that will adorn the yet-to-be-presented AT04 challenger during a special event in New York.
Long-time team boss Franz Tost, continuing driver Yuki Tsunoda and new arrival Nyck de Vries were all on hand for Saturday’s reveal, which followed Red Bull’s own season launch in the Big Apple a week ago.
GALLERY: Every angle of AlphaTauri’s new livery for the 2023 F1 season
Coinciding with New York’s famous Fashion Week, the launch represented a perfect fit for the AlphaTauri fashion brand, who are owned by Red Bull and replaced Toro Rosso as the Faenza squad’s official name in 2020.
In a suitably stylish unveiling, AlphaTauri presented a now traditional deep blue and white colour scheme for their new car, which will be powered by Honda engines running under the Red Bull Powertrains moniker.
However, red highlights now complement the palette courtesy of Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer ORLEN linking up with the team as a ‘Principal Partner’ for 2023, having moved across from rivals Alfa Romeo.
AlphaTauri head into the new season looking to turn their recent F1 fortunes around, having slipped from sixth in the 2021 constructors’ standings to ninth in 2022, when all-new technical regulations came into play.
Japanese racer Tsunoda keeps his place at the team for a third successive season, with De Vries arriving in place of Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly after the Dutchman’s impressive stand-in performance for Williams at last year’s Italian Grand Prix.
BARRETTO: Why AlphaTauri’s newest recruit Nyck de Vries could be 2023’s dark horse
Speaking at the launch of AlphaTauri’s new livery, and looking at the year ahead, Tost said: “I think that the whole field will be much closer together. Of course, the big three teams still have an advantage from their infrastructure, from the personnel side, but I’m quite convinced that in 2023 the cars will be much more evenly matched.
“In addition, while [Max] Verstappen won the championship quite early on in the season last year, I don’t expect that one driver will have such a big advantage this year and win so early.
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“I think it will become a fight that goes on until the end of the season. That’s what the fans, spectactors, and we all want to see.”
With the AT04’s livery out in the open, it means half of F1’s 10 teams have revealed their colours ahead of the new season – Aston Martin being the next outfit due for launch on February 13.
TEAM GUIDE: The essential lowdown on Italian team AlphaTauri as Tsunoda and De Vries prepare for 2023
AlphaTauri and the rest of the F1 grid will gather at the Bahrain International Circuit for pre-season testing from February 23-25, with the opening round of the campaign following a week later at the same Sakhir venue.
