FIRST LOOK: Kubica gives Alfa Romeo's 2021 F1 car its track debut
Alfa Romeo’s 2021 Formula 1 car - the C41 - has made its on-track debut during a shakedown event in Barcelona.
The Hinwil-based outfit launched its C41 challenger at an event in Warsaw on Monday, with race drivers Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi, reserve driver Robert Kubica and senior team personnel including Fred Vasseur all present.
On Friday, Alfa Romeo released the first photograph of its new car running on track for the first time at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where it was conducted one of its two permitted filming days with mileage restricted to 100km.
Kubica had the honour of being the first driver to get behind the wheel of the C41 as he logged a total of 29 laps.
Alfa Romeo is the fifth team to have conducted a run for its 2021 F1 car, with McLaren, Williams, Red Bull and AlphaTauri also carrying out similar shakedowns over the past fortnight.
The C41 will get its next run out during pre-season testing in Bahrain, which takes place between 12-14 March.
Music to our ears. pic.twitter.com/nKwjfF93Q6
— Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN (@alfaromeoracing) February 26, 2021
Alfa Romeo technical director Jan Monchaux has predicted that reduced running ahead of the 2021 season will result in a “very hectic” pre-season test in Bahrain.
"It's going to be frantic," Monchaux said. "Three days, it's quite short compared to previous seasons. The car carries over a lot of components, so theoretically the risk to have a bad surprise is reduced.
"But I expect those three days to be very hectic on the track, with all the teams trying to put maximum mileage to make sure you have reliability, but also to tick off the box with respect to the performance expectations."
The Swiss squad will be hoping its latest F1 car is an improvement on last year’s C39, after Raikkonen and Giovinazzi were only able to muster eight points between them across the 17-round season as Alfa Romeo ended the season eighth in the constructors’ championship for the third year running.
