Alpine A521, 2021

First pictures: Alpine reveals its Formula 1 contender for 2021

2021 F1 season

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Alpine has revealed the first images of its A521, the car it will use to contest the 2021 F1 season.

Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon will drive for the team, which raced as Renault until last year.

Alonso, who is making his return to Formula 1 after a two-year absence, was unable to take part in the team’s virtual online launch, following his cycling accident two weeks ago. He won his two world championships with the team in 2005 and 2006, when it was known as Renault.

“I’m very motivated heading into this new chapter with Alpine,” he said in a statement,” and it’s of course very special to be back with the team that I achieved so much with in the past.

“The spirit is strong at both factories in Enstone and Viry-Chatillon and we’re all very excited for what’s ahead.”

Formula 1 teams are required to carry over much of their 2020 cars into the new season. Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski therefore expects the team will perform similarly to last year, when they finished fifth in a closely-fourth midfield.

“Due to the relative regulatory stability, we shouldn’t see big differences in the competitive order of the field, however, the gaps are so small in the midfield that we still expect close fights at every track,” said Budkowski. “We know that small differences in performance can make a big difference in the final championship position.

“Certainly, we hope to build on the good momentum of last season, especially the second half where we scored three podiums, and carry it into this year.”

Pictures: 2021 Alpine A521

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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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57 comments on “First pictures: Alpine reveals its Formula 1 contender for 2021”

  1. Not feeling this one. I guess this color of blue opened up when Toro Rosso became AlphaTauri, but I’ve always find it somewhat of a bland color for a car. The minor white and red accenting doesn’t do much to offset it. Definitely a downgrade from the bright Renault yellow that made the car stand out on the grid.

  2. BIG HURRAY for the return of the deep blue which reminds me of the Prost Grand Prix.

    Hopefully it’ll be a bit faster than those things (appart from the JS45)

    1. @fer-no65 completely agree! If you look closely at the back wing you can even see Yahoo as a sponsor!

      1. lol i thought you were joking but you’re right it’s there!

      2. I suspect Yahoo will want their logo to be slightly more conspicuous than that! I can’t be sure, but maybe if the whole “Yahoo” was able to be seen in those side views then I think they wouldn’t have grounds for complaint. Anyway, now the lawyers have to justify what they are paid.

    2. You sure you aren’t conflating Ligier with Prost GP? Ligier had the light blue early on in their run, but then moved darker, and Prost only had the deeper dark blue.

      1. @aiii maybe not the exact same colour, although it’s very different depending on the light and such

    3. Fantastic livery!! So pleased.

  3. I really like the livery personally, but I wish there was a bit more in the front wing, the plain black looks a bit dull. I would also have preferred a slightly darker shade of blue (like the shirt Ocon was wearing), but overall, I think it looks great. My favorite livery thus far for sure, and the shape of the car’s nose doesn’t hurt its aesthetic either.

    1. No sponsor at all on the front wing, wouldn’t be surprised if this changes

  4. Now, I think that looks fantastic. Best livery on the grid by a mile.

    1. Agree completely. Beautiful livery.. It should look stunning on track..

      1. @todfod Indeed, look forward to seeing it in the real world (well, through my tv screen). It’ll look even better in sunlight.

      2. @todfod Agree again on what’s turned out to be a bit of a livery contest today. Love that blue.

    2. +1. Love it!

    3. 10/10! Can’t wait to see that at the night races

    4. Maybe after the new Mercedes. Oddest value of Alpine green I’ve ever seen

      1. I think the Mercedes is pretty bland really, as jt usually is. Alpine green? The Alpine brand is primarily associated with blue.

  5. Nice colors, wish it had less black area around the tub and the front wing to make it even more colorful.

    1. Exactly, I don’t like that ALL teams leave the floor and barge board areas unpainted.
      I know they don’t want to make it easy to see the aero shapes, but it means that basically the lower half of all cars looks identical.

      1. Still, it’s interesting how with Ferrari people keep asking for black wings (like in the nineties), but here it’s not great, right @hunocsi, @mantresx? Yeah I do think the black here isn’t perhaps the best choice either, and the Ferrari thing is definitely nostalgia, while Albine/Renault/French racing blue teams haven’t had a consistency there to feed a similar feel good factor, agree.

        1. @bosyber I’ve never really cared for Ferrari liveries, but I liked them most when they featured just a little white. 2007 and 2015 ones were probably the best looking for me, and the black bits on the 2015 Ferrari are almost too much as well, but just enough.

          I’m not really nostalgic about individual liveries, I just like a mixed up looking grid. I started watching F1 in 2000 when it was probably the most colorful; yellow Jordan, orange Arrows, red Ferrari, green Jaguar, light blue Benetton, dark blue Prost, white-blue Williams, white BAR with the red dot, the Red Bull-Petronas Sauber (what a sponsor duo, huh?), and the beautiful black-grey McLaren. I don’t think the grid has been that good looking since.

          Overall I think this Alpine blue is a nice addition to the grid, and it’s a good livery, but the designers didn’t bring out its full potential. However I don’t think Renault used the yellow well in any of its last 5 cars, so I’m not too sorry about it being replaced. And with Aston finally replacing that hideous shade of pink with a hopefully classy green livery, I think we could have the best looking field in 2021 maybe in decades.

          1. And the neon yellow Minardi with the blue bits of course!

  6. Yes. Great to see a mettalic livery against the backdrop of teams moving towards matte. Will be a great addition to the grid.

  7. machinesteve
    2nd March 2021, 15:24

    Wow that launch was painful to watch!

    1. if you mean the streaming problems i agree.. i skipped the presentation after a short time. If the car is just as slow as the streaming they will fight Williams..

  8. Stephen Higgins
    2nd March 2021, 15:27

    Whether or not the car looks good or not. You know that Alonso is going to ring every last drop of performance out of it.

  9. Very nice with lighter blue car again. Looks good. Hope it delivers.

  10. I will definitely not ever support Alpine, Alonso or Ocon, but THIS is the best livery so far. IMHO of course.
    I also think Alpha Tauri should have left last year’s livery as it was. I think it was the best, but the dark blue on top has darkened “the mood”.

    1. @omarr-pepper pit of curiosity, what do you have against Renault, Alpine, Alonso or Ocon?

      1. Never supported Alonso since he arrived. Kimi was a match for him in 2006 but unreliability prevented him to beat Alonso. Then Fernando had his blocking Hamilton tantrum, his spygate blackmail attempt and just a year later Renault got involved into crashgate. Ocon is regular at best and never rated him highly. He also got into Verstappen in Brazil 2018. There are my reasons.

        1. @captainpie oops forgot the tag. Please read above.

        2. @omarr-pepper are you sure you’ve remembered the seasons correctly? In 2006, Kimi didn’t really stand out all that much as the car wasn’t especially quick and, whilst there might have been a few mechanical issues, Kimi did also DNF due to accidents too.

          Most don’t really bring up 2006 as anything particularly noteworthy by Kimi – 2005 is more usually brought up as the example, although the more common perception is that the MP4/20, although less reliable than the R25, was a faster car as well.

  11. I actually quite like it, but it isn’t enough to compensate for the loss of a bright yellow Renault car on the grid for me…

  12. I think it looks great.

  13. Dug the metallic blue, though the red bits seems off-balance to me. Instead, some Renault Yellow would be mega!

  14. Chris Horton
    2nd March 2021, 16:50

    Very nice, can’t beat electric blue.

  15. Awesome color combination love it !

  16. I really like it. I prefer this over the bumblebee.

  17. Jockey Ewing
    2nd March 2021, 17:36

    I liked the black and yellow liveries of Renault at the last seasons, so after I realised, the rebranding to Alpine might imply a change of livery, I was not happy. But it’s ok, I like it. Livery-wise yet Alpha Tauri, and Alfa Romeo is slightly worse than they were before, Alpine is not worse for me than Renault was before. And if Mercedes curates the problem of the slightly odd looking AMG logos, they will be at least at the level of their former livery as well.

    1. Jockey Ewing
      2nd March 2021, 17:39

      Although same goes for Alpine, as it was in the case of Alfa Romeo. I would like to see it at natural lighting, but I think it will be nice, and proper for a French competitor.

  18. Giving me a Michel Vaillant vibe. Looks cool!

  19. Ah, the colours of the French flag… blue, white, red and….. black….. wait a minute!
    Why is there so much black around the sides of the tub? It feels like the black ruins what would have been a nice livery. Will be interesting to see how it looks on track and at speed.

    1. @swordsman_uk IMO the black saves it. Blue all around would look simple or cheap.

      1. @balue True, but it wouldn’t have to be just blue in place of the black areas. They could have used white and red too. Or even flashes/lines of other colours including black.

        It just looks odd to me. They kept saying that it would be a blue, white and red car and I did expect blue to be the dominant colour. But this looks to me like a blue and black car with some red and white thrown in to mix it up.

        Anyway, I reserve judgement on liveries until I see them on track.

  20. Love it. Nice metallic blue going on there. Curious what it look like in daylight as these studio shots are probably misleading. Finally we’re getting a lot of fantastic looking cars. Waiting for someone like Williams to dull it up as usual. Ecstatic that the putrid pink of the Force India will be gone as well (perhaps an accent of it on the AM but that will be all!).

  21. Nice livery, better than the earlier render.

  22. Manor is back!

    Nice livery.

  23. Not too bad. Need to see it run on the track.

  24. Now that’s a great livery!

  25. Nice enough livery. It’ll probably look great under night lighting white the chrome blue finish

  26. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    2nd March 2021, 19:29

    I can’t say I was interested in supporting Alpine as I’m not awfully fond of Alonso or Ocon, but I have to admit I really love that shade of blue.

  27. Yay! Love the new livery. Really liking the way the blue looks with the black underside.

    The national flag accents on the end plates are a really nice touch too.

  28. Beautiful mid body, to much black at the tail and way to much in front of the side pods. It just doesn’t do justice to the smoothest nose lines on the grid. And what about that misplaced red mapfre blob ? Alpines were blue from head to toes, no black! Something doesn’t jibe in front of the side pods.

  29. hey it is not a render

  30. RyanSterling
    3rd March 2021, 1:58

    Alpine presented by Colgate.

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