Alfa Romeo finally reveal their 2022 F1 car, the C42

The Hinwil-based team went through the pre-season testing session in Barcelona with a special camouflage livery on the car, the only team to do so, as all other nine teams have revealed their 'real' 2022 cars or at least their 2022 liveries.

Alfa Romeo are fielding a totally new driver lineup with ex-Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas leading the team's track efforts, with Chinese rookie Guanyu Zhou occupying the second of the Alfa Romeo garage.

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver: "I am impressed by our new car, the C42. I think the livery is really beautiful, the Alfa Romeo Centro Stile did a brilliant job.

"It’s my first car at Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, of course, which makes it special, and I am really looking forward to being on the grid in Bahrain with it. What is exciting is that we have no idea how that first race is going to pan out. Testing helped us confirm our expectations of where we stand, the progress we have made with the car, but now we are getting closer to the moment that really matters.

"Since I joined, I have seen so much motivation within this team: everyone is pushing a lot, trying to work harder than the others to be competitive, and that in turn gives me that extra boost when I am in the cockpit."

Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver: "I am fully pumped up for the season and seeing the C42 in the livery in which I will race it definitely makes it real.

"We are at the beginning of a new era, with new cars and new regulations, and this creates an opportunity for all teams to make progress since we are all starting from scratch. Everyone at Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN has been incredibly helpful since I joined and seeing all the hard work, the commitment and motivation from everyone, in Hinwil and at the track, fills me with pride and excitement.

"I can’t wait to be on the grid with this car and work with my team to bring home the results we are targeting together."

Robert Kubica, Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN reserve driver: "The start of a new season is always a time where expectations, hopes and plans come together: this year, the stakes are even higher as we are taking a bit of a jump into the unknown with the new regulations.

"There has been an incredible amount of work that went into this car, the C42, and I am looking forward to seeing what the team can achieve with it. In my role, I am aiming to provide as much help as possible in the development of this car: we know how big the margins of improvement are at this stage in the lifetime of a car and we know that each upgrade can make a difference, so the work we do back at base is going to be crucial to deliver results trackside."

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal of Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN: "The start of the season is always an exciting time, one in which we see the fruit of the work of hundreds of people over a long period of time.

"The C42 is a car we look forward to seeing racing, not just because it is the first we built in this new regulations cycle, one in which racing should be closer and more thrilling, but because we have the utmost confidence in this car helping the team make a big step forward towards the front of the grid."

Jan Monchaux, Technical Director of Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN: "As we unveil the C42, it may feel like the start of a new season: we know, however, that this launch is just a milestone in a much longer journey in which our whole staff in Hinwil has invested so much time, resource and energies.

"Designing and building this car has been a huge undertaking and we can be proud of what we have achieved, but our work is not finished. As always in a new rules cycle, the development curve will be at its steepest this season and we need to continue extracting new performance out of the C42 to make the progress we have set as an objective for ourselves."

Alfa Romeo had a tough time during the pre-season testing with reliability issues marring them, which limited their running to 175 laps (818 km), with only Haas running less.