F1 News: Alpine A523 to have "visual differences" in Bahrain with upgrade package

Alpine went under the radar in pre-season testing.

Alpine was one of the most difficult teams to assess during pre-season, with the French squad almost anonymous on the timing sheets. 

The Enstone squad finished an impressive 4th place last season, becoming established as the 'best of the rest' and laying a good platform for the new F1 regulations. 

As such, there are high expectations for the team. During the A523 launch, Alpine outlined their intentions to solidify themselves as the 4th-fastest team and close the gap to the front.

However, it was Aston Martin who finished several places behind Alpine last season - that looked the most impressive of last year's midfield runners. 

Whilst it is too early to write off Alpine's chances - given their performance last season and focus on long runs during testing - there is certainly some uncertainty surrounding them.

Regardless, as quoted by motorsportweek, Alpine's Technical Director Matt Harman outlined the team's outlook ahead of round one:

"There'll be some visual differences to the first race. We've got quite a nice upgrade going on.

"Hopefully, they'll help with our quest at getting closer to that third position, if not being in that position.

"Moving forward with what we learned this week, to not only improve the car for the race itself - but also with development, we know we want to be aggressive. 

"As we were last year, if not more so...

"Fundamentally, there will be an attempt to try and develop something every race."

It should be noted that most teams - not just Alpine - will be introducing new components this weekend in Bahrain, so this is not an especially shocking revelation. 

With that said, the question marks surrounding Alpine's 2023 package will make the team's overall performance a point of interest throughout the paddock. 

Aston Martin may have captured the headlines, but the Enstone-based team will be eager to prove themselves capable of closing the gap to the top-three teams.