Alpine to unveil new Formula One car on March 2, Aston Martin a day later
ALPINE will unveil their car for the 2021 Formula One season on March 2, the same day as world champions Mercedes, and Aston Martin will follow the next day.
Alpine gave the date on Tuesday ahead of their F1 debut in 2021 after the Renault F1 Team was rebranded to promote the French car makers’ sports car brand Alpine.
In the line-up they kept French driver Esteban Ocon and will see the return of twotime world champion Fernando Alonso, who is recovering from surgery on a broken jaw he sustained in a recent cycling accident.
Aston Martin are also a rebrand, of Racing Point, and have four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel as a driver along with Lance Stroll, the son of the team’s Canadian billionaire investor Lawrence Stroll.
They also announced their launch date of March 3 ahead of a season that marks the return of Aston Martin to F1 as a works team after more than 60 years.
McLaren were the first team to unveil their new car for the season on Monday.
The other teams to announce their car launch dates are Alfa Romeo (February 22), Ferrari (February 26 and March 10), world champions Mercedes (March 2) and Williams (March 5).
The F1 season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 28 after the Australian race scheduled a week earlier was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The three days of pre-season testing are set for mid-March, also in Bahrain.
McLaren’s MCL35M had very subtle changes in the livery, keeping the main colour orange and blue details of the 2020 car. There’s however a significant change with a switch of engine supplier from Renault to Mercedes. This will be McLaren’s first Mercedespowered F1 car since 2014 and they will be the only team in the 2021 grid to deal with a change of power unit supplier.
After third place in the constructor’s championship last year, McLaren hope to keep their good momentum with young driver Lando Norris and newcomer Daniel Ricciardo, who replaces Ferraribound Carlos Sainz.
Team principal Andreas Seidl called the RicciardoNorris partnership “one of the most competitive driver lineups in the sport,” adding: “The entire team has worked hard over the short winter, together with our colleagues from Mercedes-AMG, to produce the MCL35M and provide a strong car for our drivers to race this year.
“This has been no small challenge, and I want to thank every member of our team,” Seidl said.
Norris and Ricciardo also drove the MCL35M on Tuesday as part of a filming day for McLaren before pre-season testing starts in Bahrain on March 12-14.
Next to unveil their new 2021 season car are Alpha Tauri on Friday, followed by Alfa Romeo (February 22), Ferrari (February 26 and March 10), world champions Mercedes (March 2) and Williams (March 5).