The official launch took place on Thursday evening, which saw them unveil the new car in their now-traditional blue-livery – along with a pink-themed version in the colours of the team's title sponsor BWT, which will run at a handful of selected races this year.
The car was driven by Esteban Ocon, who is preparing for his third season in Alpine colours, and new team mate Pierre Gasly, who arrived from AlphaTauri over the winter.
“Esteban drove first in the morning to check all the systems were working properly as well as completing the usual install programme for the car. Pierre was then in the car in the afternoon for the first time in the A523 and completed eight stable laps to get an initial feel in his new surroundings.”
Alpine Technical Director Matt Harman said: “It’s been another milestone ticked for the A523 with our shakedown at Silverstone and I’m pleased the day ran so smoothly. The team had set itself aggressive targets this year and made significant changes to a number of components, including switching the rear suspension from a pull-rod design to push-rod.”
He also revealed the A523 was below the new 796kg minimum weight limit, meaning Alpine's engineers can play with ballast to optimise the car's weight distribution for each circuit.
The Enstone location hosts the plant where Alpine A523 chassis are designed and assembled. For 30 years, first with Renault F1 and now with Alpine F1, Enstone has seen talented engineers working in more than 25 departments – from Aerodynamics to validation testing - to continually improve the performance of Alpine race cars.
