Alfa Romeo Switches It Up With Their 2023 Car, The C43

We've seen car (or livery) launches from Haas, Red Bull, and Williams, but Alfa Romeo may have dropped the most intriguing 2023 car yet.

This is the last season that the team will compete using the Alfa Romeo branding, and they've decided to switch things up. Instead of their typical white and red livery, the Swiss-based team is going for a black and red look on their new car, The C43.

It's a sharp look for sure, one that driver Valtteri Bottas seems excited about jumping for his second season with the team.

Bottas' new weapon has more going for it than just a spiffy new paint job.

This version of the C43 looked to have a different sidepod design more in line with those used by Red Bull. Additionally, the team said that the bulk of the changes over last year's C42 is at the rear of the car.

However, as is the case with most teams, the car they unveil, and the version that hits the track in Bahrain could be pretty different. This one especially, as the show car the team debuted can be yours if you've got the money.

Alfa Romeo's Biggest Upgrade Needs To Be In The Reliability Department

You can't score points if you don't cross the finish line, and unfortunately for Alfa Romeo, in 2022 that was a real problem.

After a strong start, Alfa Romeo only scored 4 points following the British Grand Prix, the 9th round of the Championship.

That said, they still managed to finish P6 in the constructors' standings.

While some of that reduction in points likely came from an increased performance from the likes of Mercedes and Aston Martin as the season went on, the team's 10 DNFs were no help.

Not all of those were the result of technical gremlins. Then-rookie Zhou Guanyu's scary crash before the first turn at Silverstone had nothing to do with reliability. However, many other of the team's retirements did.

If they can iron out those kinks, Alfa should be a midfield contender week in and week out especially with their driver lineup. Bottas still tends to get the most out of the car he's given, while Guanyu had a respectable rookie campaign certainly worthy of another season.

I don't expect to see Alfa make a huge gain this season, however, I'd put my money on them holding steady at P6.

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.