RAIKKONEN UNVEILS NEW CAR

But Finn takes just five minutes to spin into the gravel on first morning of testing

ALFA Romeo have become the last team to officially launch their car for the new F1 season as Kimi Raikkonen and teammate Antonio Giovinazzi unveiled their challenger in Barcelona.

The drivers revealed the red and white car in front of their pit garage at the Circuit de Catalunya just minutes before the first session of winter testing got underway.

But no sooner had the car been unveiled than it caused the day’s first red flag, with Raikkonen driving into the gravel at turn five after just five minutes of the session.

The Finn, who has moved from Ferrari over the winter following five seasons at the Maranello outfit, was uninjured in the minor incident which saw the car quickly recovered to the pit-lane.

This is Alfa Romeo’s first season since dropping the Sauber name from their title, but the car’s name is still a continuation from their former guise, with the chassis number being named the C38 — following on from last term’s C37.

The livery is also similar to that seen last season with only minor changes to the car including the redesign of the Alfa Romeo badge on the engine cover and the removal of Sauber logos.

Alfa Romeo have already run the car in a shakedown session, with Raikkonen behind the wheel on Wednesday as they ran a Valentine's Day livery featuring hearts and the team’s shamrock in a patterned design.

The team are hoping this season to build on a promising 2018 where they lifted themselves off the back of the grid to secure their best season since 2013 by finishing eighth with 48 points.

Raikkonen is expected to do all the team’s running on the first day of winter testing, with teams expected to run eight days in total before the first race of the season in Australia.

With the exception of Williams, who will miss the first day of testing, all the teams will run the first four days of this week, before returning to the track next Tuesday for another four-day session.