Sports
F1 Twitter Reacts to a Major Alfa Romeo Botch Up Ahead of the 2022 Season
The Alfa Romeo F1 team is all set to enter the 2022 season with a new driver lineup of ex-Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and Chinese newcomer Zhou Guanyu. The 20 season was a tough one for the Hinwil-based team. The shortcomings in Alfa Romeo C41 mostly forced Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi to compete in the back of the midfield. While Kimi Raikkonen decided to hang up his helmet after an illustrious career, Giovinazzi faced an undecorated exit from F1.
The team brought in Zhao to replace Giovinazzi who had a fairly strong season with the team. This invited a lot of criticism, both from the fans and Giovinazzi himself. However, it wasn’t all bad for him in the end. Ferrari announced the Italian as their reserve driver alongside Mick Schumacher.
Meanwhile, Bottas has tested the 2021 Alfa Romeo in Abu Dhabi after the season finale and looks good to anchor the team to achieve better heights. His experiences at the top team for over five years carry a great value to lower midfield teams like Alfa Romeo.
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – DECEMBER 14: Valtteri Bottas of Finland driving the (77) Alfa Romeo Racing C41 Ferrari during Formula 1 testing at Yas Marina Circuit on December 14, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Twitter reacts to Alfa Romeo F1 car nomenclature
The teams are gearing up for the upcoming pre-season testing scheduled in February, right after the imminent launch of their 2022 F1 car. However, another aspect of the 2022 Alfa Romeo car is inviting a lot of reactions from fans across the globe. The team named their 2020 car as C39 and the 2021 car as C41.
As per the latest updates, the Swiss team has named their 2022 car a C40. This weird nomenclature is inviting a lot of hilarious reactions on Twitter. Although there is a reason for that, the new regulations were supposed to be implemented from 2021 but got delayed due to the pandemic.
Now, the teams that began working for their new cars back in 2020 named it accordingly (C40 in Alfa Romeo’s case). However, the process got delayed by one season and they already imprinted the name with a certain car. Some teams like Red Bull added a syllable to their existing car name, while Alfa Romeo tried a different route.
The official handle of the F1 website WTF1 shared this detail/discrepancy in a tweet and the fans pitched in all sorts of reactions. Let us take a look at some of them.
When you remember that Alfa Romeo named their car before the delay in the F1 regulations so…
2020 car: C39
2021 car: C41
2022 car: C40 pic.twitter.com/Ir0dsxAPGZ
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) January 25, 2022
Not really, RB16B made sense because the 17 wasn’t a new car, just an upgraded RB16… Alfa just decided to alter the numbers order
— LimitlessF1 (@Formula1Jd) January 26, 2022
— Joshyy1912 (@SquanceJoshua) January 25, 2022
this is actually cool, if you know, you know kind of thing.
doesn’t help the marketing team and new fans though.
— Juan (@Camejuanm1) January 26, 2022
— Miika Kautto (@MiikaKautto) January 25, 2022
When you keep checking your phone for any messages from Toto regarding a return to Mercedes to replace Lewis.
— Darren (@darrenmk) January 25, 2022
Now, with less than a month left before the pre-season testing, teams are working day in day out to provide the drivers with a well-suited car. Can Bottas help Alfa Romeo climb up the ladder or it will prove to be a disappointing move? Fans will know soon enough.
Read More- What Is Lewis Hamilton’s Honest Opinion of His Future Mercedes F1 Teammate George Russell?
The post F1 Twitter Reacts to a Major Alfa Romeo Botch Up Ahead of the 2022 Season appeared first on EssentiallySports.
