Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, Fiorano, 2019

Raikkonen covers 33 laps in “positive” first run for Alfa Romeo

2019 F1 season

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Alfa Romeo ran its new car for the 2019 F1 season for the first time today at Ferrari’s test circuit Fiorano.

The car covered 33 laps of the 2.997 kilometre circuit, the maximum they were allowed to do under F1’s rules which limit filming days to a maximum of 100 kilometres. It ran in what the team described as a “special ‘love’ livery” for the Valentine’s Day test.

Team principal Frederic Vasseur said the team enjoyed a “positive day” at Fiorano.

“We ran the 2019 car for the first time and were able to assess the progress we have made in our development ahead of the first tests in Barcelona next week.

“The whole team is pushing to start the season with the best possible base. Our drivers and crew are motivated, and we look forward to heading into the championship and delivering a strong performance.”

Technical director Simone Resta, who has joined the former Sauber team from Ferrari, said the team conducted the necessary preliminary checks of its new chassis prior to the start of testing on Monday.

“After a long winter we are happy to be on track with our new car for the first time,” he said.

“The focus of our work today was on aerodynamic, set-up and cooling checks. We ran for a total of 33 laps and will use our data to establish how the new regulations will affect the behaviour of our car.

“The next two weeks which we will spend in Barcelona will be busy and will concentrate on proving the car’s reliability and performance.”

Pictures: Alfa Romeo’s filming day at Fiorano

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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22 comments on “Raikkonen covers 33 laps in “positive” first run for Alfa Romeo”

  1. So in a way it really was testing.

    1. In a way, but really just preliminary checks and assessments, as all the teams will do in their 100km shakedowns. As he says, the reliability and performance work starts in Barcelona. Ie. the real work of starting to see how competitive they will be where they’ll play with many different setups, and crank the Pu up etc etc.

    2. But isn’t that what they all do? Mercedes and Red Bull did the same yesterday. Its normal, hence they’re limited to 100km.

    3. It is 100% testing but it is within the rules.

    4. to be 100% fair, they do need pictures and such for promotional material. It’s just that they can also do some testing while they’re at it. If memory serves me correctly, they’re not using standard race tires for filming days either so any setup data is limited, just basic things like, does the car actually run reliably which is important at this stage.

      1. Can’t really be for promotional material if it’s sole use is valentines day due to the livery. The image cannot really be used for posters or corporate websites because the car is unrecognisable to the public.

        1. How many stories have been written about Alfa Romeo today?

    5. It’s used more as a shakedown… under the guise of promotional filming. As others have said, get the kinks out, make sure the car runs and notice any critical issues before the actual test begins.

      Pretty sure they’re required to run on special “promotional” tires which are not any of the race tires. This is what qualifies it as a promo day. It makes it difficult for the teams to acquire any useful performance data but still allows the teams to get their initial systems checks out of the way. So yes the FIA knows the teams are using the test for things outside “filming”, but with only 100km on useless tires it keeps the situation from getting out of hand.

      Did McLaren have their “filming day” ahead of the initial test last year? That might have allowed them to notice their wheel would fall off and get that addressed before losing a day of testing. I never understood why every single team doesn’t use the first filming day in this manner! I feel like finally this year almost all the teams caught on to the huge benefit it is and made an effort to get their car ready for a ‘filming day’ ahead of the first test.

      1. Nailed it.

  2. so is the engine a ferrari or alfa romeo..just a bit confused…

    1. Pretty sure there isn’t a new Pu maker in F1, so it would be a Ferrari Pu in back, just being badged an Alfa Romeo.

    2. Its as much an Alfa as last year’s Red Bull engine was a Tag Heuer

  3. I’ve never understood the rules on pre season testing..I thought this wasn’t allowed? Same goes for Ferrari running their engine around their test track pre 2014 season by throwing it in a modified La Ferrari?

    1. Would love to know how that worked out too. With my limited understanding of the rulebook, I guess nothing forbids you from using a engine that wasn’t even homologated in a “road” car.

      As for filming days, I think as long as they keep it under 100 km, they can do whatever they want. I remember last year, I was driving around Montmelo the day before the tests began and Haas was running their car. It sounded like they were going full throttle…

    2. Ahead of the official pre-season testing days coming up, the teams are allowed a 100km filming/promotional/car reveal type day and they use that to confirm that the car starts and runs and that all the systems are working. They are ‘testing’ but really moreso checking that everything is looking good and functioning as per the plan. Are all the computers talking to each other, are they getting accurate telemetry etc etc. They aren’t cranking the car up to sustainable racing speeds of any usable amount, nor trying various setups etc etc. Just making sure there are no major issues for when they do hit the track on day one of testing when they can really start testing the cars performance and reliability on properly heated tires etc etc.

  4. Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
    14th February 2019, 20:12

    That’s a wierd front wing. looks like half of it is missing

    1. Front wings are wider so more prone to getting damaged on the end, Alfa designing their aero concept to work with the ends missing.

      1. Could also just be that they forgot to make those pieces and until the press took pictures nobody noticed.

    2. With my limited knowledge of aerodynamics, it looks like it would create more problems than it solves.

      1. That’s why they don’t employ people who declare their lack of knowledge in the area… I’d be surprised if we don’t see something similar if not quite as extreme on the big threes front wings. The open sides of the wings are pushing as much air as possible around the front wheels. Great to see Alfa are using their own innovation and pushing ahead as an independent ‘Sauber’ rather than a Ferrari B.

    3. I keep hearing that this Alfa has the most ‘revolutionary’ front wing, I guess we will see how it works out.

  5. Autosport put up a video on YouTube with an analysis of the front wing, and they showed a photo from toro rosso shakedown of a torro rosso with a similar wing, and much different from its presentation photos. Next week it will turn out most teams are going down the same path.

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