ZÜRICH, Switzerland (PSF) — Now the fourth team to unveil their challenger for the 2023 F1 season, Alfa Romeo takes on a new title sponsor in the form of the online casino, Stake. Their season launch event was broadcasted live from their Swiss team base and featured interviews and insights from different people associated with the team. The now named C43 will be driven by the returning duo of veteran team leader Valtteri Bottas and second year driver Zhou Guanyu.

There are some interesting changes to this years car. With the Orlen brand exiting as the team’s title sponsor and Stake stepping into that roll, there is a new color scheme for Alfa Romeo. The base livery concept is similar to last year’s C42 with the split colors, but last year’s white has been traded in for a new black. Alfa Romeo also altered their script logo to be in a straight line instead of the stacked scrip logo they sported last season. Another creative alteration for this season is how one side of car above the cooling louvres has the Alfa Romeo secondary clover logo while the other side has their famous emblem logo in all white with no border. The Swiss owned team also brought back their colored wheel covers and have dropped the white from the design from last season to match the new black and red color scheme for this season.

The C43 that was unveiled is actually the car that they will be taking to testing in Bahrain. Finally we can look at the design of the car from a standpoint other than cosmetic. One innovation for this season is the aggressive looking front wing that has ridges and creases that is certainly a unique look. Attached to the front wing are the endplates that also feature a new ridge that appears like a tiny bar that sticks out the side of the plates. Since I am not an engineer, I can’t speak to what this design will do for the team specifically, but typically any innovation with the front wing is in the pursuit of better aerodynamics. The other interesting change is the all new floor design. The floor for the C43 sports a serrated look that surely will cause a puncture if another car’s tire somehow knocked into it. Like the front wing, I can’t speak to the specifics, but this change will look to serve as an improvement to their downforce in high speed corners, which the Alfa Romeo team lost a lot of time in this past season.

Factoring my opinion into this car, there is a lot to like with the minor changes to the Alfa logo placements and the simplicity of it all. However, as of now, I just can’t get behind the new black look. Last season’s livery was the best on the grid in many fans’ eyes including my own. The way the white went with the red just felt very Alfa Romeo and Italy, which was satisfying to look at and simply was the embodiment of the word “fit.” It just fit so well. The black that has been introduced for this year just isn’t sitting well with me considering the design scheme is practically the same from last year and they are substituting in the black for the white. The black that Haas presented for this season is a lot more Haas than the black that Alfa Romeo presented is Alfa Romeo. I have a feeling that this livery could grow on me considering I do typically enjoy black on a car, and I have heard a lot of F1 fans rave about this livery the same way I did last season. I’m sure the bright lights in Bahrain shining down on the C43 will alter my opinion of its look at least a tiny bit.

As Alfa Romeo’s deal with the Sauber team comes to an end at the conclusion of this season with the Swiss team gearing towards their partnership with Audi in 2026, the Italian brand will look to make the most out of this season as it could be the last time we see the Alfa Romeo name in Formula 1.