Alfa Romeo confident of unleashing "next level of performance" in their 2023 F1 challenger
Alfa Romeo unveiled their 2023 F1 season challenger on Tuesday (February 7), becoming the fourth team to reveal their new look for the upcoming season.
Alfa Romeo's technical director, Jan Monchaux, spoke about the team's goals for the upcoming season and the changes they had to make in the car after the authorities mandated a few changes in the regulations.
Monchaux said:
"We decided to change the rear axis, or the rear suspension and also, therefore the gearbox casing, which then opens the door to new layout, especially on the cooler side, which then served, once in place, allowed us to develop the bodywork as weโve been doing, the last year, during the season was not possible."
He also revealed that the team is developing to unleash their "next level of performance" in the upcoming seasons:
"And the concept we had followed last year, we were of the opinion not come to sort of a plateau and to unleash the next level of performance we had to do all those changes, so thatโs been quite a drawback for us because it's a big complex part we had to redo."
Alfa Romeo progressively developed in the previous seasons, getting one of their best results in 2022; a 55-point finish, topping the midfield with a P6 finish, though narrowly escaping Aston Martin, who also finished the season with the same points in their bag. Though the team had many opportunities to clinch more points, reliability issues from the Ferrari engines weren't on their side.
Monchaux discloses Alfa Romeo's development plans ahead of the 2023 F1 season
Alfa Romeo's team representative, Alunni Bravi, who was also present at the launch, spoke about the team's goals for the upcoming season. While his words were monotonous to Monchaux's, he also stated that the team does not have any fixed major goals, but will continue to develop, supposedly, to top the midfield by a larger margin.
Monchaux revealed that while the rear of the car is mostly developed, the 'front' of the car will be developed as the season progresses. He said:
"And then evidently all the rear end works with the floor, alongside the new rake. So, weโve really been putting a lot of effort on the second part of the car while the front will be successively developed during the season."
Alfa Romeo will be carrying on with their previous driver lineup; Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas, and will perhaps secure more points in the upcoming season. The Sauber Group possibly has a brighter future in Formula 1 with Audi making their entry as their engine supplier in 2026.