Alfa Romeo to launch C42 after Barcelona pre-season test

Alfa Romeo has revealed it won’t unveil its 2022 Formula 1 car until two days after the first pre-season test in Barcelona.

The Hinwil-based team announced on Wednesday that it will conduct an official launch for its car, named the C42, on February 27.

While Alfa Romeo won’t reveal the C42’s colour scheme for the first three-day test, it is expected it will run a special livery at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Alfa Romeo has an all-new driver line-up for the 2022 season, with Valtteri Bottas joining from Mercedes and rookie Guanyu Zhou graduating from Formula 2.

Both drivers ran in Alfa Romeo colours for the first time in the post-season Abu Dhabi tyre test, and will get their first taste of the 2022 car in Barcelona beginning on February 23.

Bottas and Zhou, who replace Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, will look to help Alfa Romeo bounce back from a disappointing 2021 campaign, in which it fell to ninth place in the constructors’ championship.

Alfa Romeo is now the seventh F1 team to confirm its launch plans, leaving Haas, Red Bull and Williams as the only outfits yet to reveal a date for the unveiling of their new challengers.

The team has previously sported a special one-off livery in both 2019 and 2020, when it conducted a shakedown prior to winter testing.

From this season, Alfa will be known as the Alfa Romeo F1 Team instead of Alfa Romeo Racing, having undergone a name change over the winter.