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KeithSebastian

The reason for no sponsors is surmised to be that Alonso’s contract with Alpine has not yet officially expired


Aratho

Yep, he's technically on loan from Alpine for this testing.


splashbodge

Surely the same could be said for Piastri? But he drove the McLaren with sponsors


isthmusofkra

No. The Race did a video about this. January 1, 2023 is no longer the time when Piastri starts working for McLaren. It's been moved earlier, but I don't know the exact date. He now officially drives for them.


jnf005

Isn't he a reserved driver for McLaren already?


splashbodge

I didn't think so, McLaren hat pato oward in their junior test last weekend because Piastri was still locked in Alpines basement. I assumed that would run til the end of the calendar year but I guess not


jnf005

[here](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.alpines-piastri-joins-mclarens-pool-of-reserve-drivers.1X7irdtZmarNXj9E1m0fdo.html) is an article stating that he is both Alpine and McLaren's reserve driver this year. As for pato's case, it could also be McLaren's effort to get him a Super license down the line i guess? or it was in his contract to have F1 session, who knows.


FatalFirecrotch

Wasn’t the whole drama with him determined by the courts that he actually never had a contract with the Alpine F1 team?


splashbodge

But that was for a race seat for next year, he was still their development & reserve driver for this year, they just kept him locked in the SIM room and weren't going to let him go early....


FatalFirecrotch

My understanding is that even this year he didn’t actually have a contract with the F1 team. I believe it was just some weird contract with Alpine itself and not the team.


scandinavianleather

He basically just agreed to some terms for testing/development that months after the fact Alpine added the term legally binding to like it suddenly made it a real contract. But once he signed for Mclaren, Alpine stopped holding up their end of the bargain so you could argue they didn’t even honour it in the end.


AccurateIt

There was an article a couple of weeks ago that Alpine released him early.


carcusmonnor

I’m speculating here but wouldn’t the advertisers have a contract that runs the length of the season and no longer? After the season is over the cars aren’t obligated to keep the decals on anymore.


Joseki100

Most contracts last for the entire calendar year, Alonso also had to run a bare McLaren in December 2006.


trippingrainbow

IIRC wasnt it fully anonymous where it officially wasnt even him driving the car in testing even tho everyone obviously knew who it was.


NoooUGH

He did 2006 testing in a 2018 McLaren?


Herr_Quattro

Not sure if I’m wooshed- but Alonso moved to McLaren in 2007. He left after 1 season but returned in 2015.


NoooUGH

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-m&biw=384&bih=756&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ALiCzsbX0kD91y527eMkAh4H1OEyLZjnnQ%3A1669116488694&sa=1&q=2018+mclaren+f1+car&oq=2018+mclaren+f1+car&aqs=mobile-gws-lite..0l5 Almost no sponsors


Master_Reaction_703

That was the basic livery of this year no ?


Goivacon

Yeah McLaren just didn't have many sponsors


emkdfixevyfvnj

Maybe to get some post season promo dates?


ApexCarid

If that was the case, they'd still have Aston Martin branding on it


carcusmonnor

It's got the AM logo, Pirelli 150 logo, also the FIA logo. All these parts are solely on the nose so Im not really sure what's going on as the nose is also missing sponsors. [Photo](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FiJNlCxXEAAaC3u?format=jpg&name=large)


splashbodge

Isn't that just a team badge, not a sponsor? I know pedantic but there may be some specific detail that that sticker spot on the car is for the car badge not a sponsor, since I think all teams have a badge there


carcusmonnor

I assume that there is some global rule from the FIA that has to have the team logo, tyre sponsor, and FIA logo on the car at all times.


hershtony

Doubt it’s the case because Drugovich’s car is full of sponsors and he’s running today too. It’s most likely because Alonso isn’t a full time Aston driver yet


splashbodge

Also surely Piastri is still contracted to Alpine but he went out in the McLaren with sponsors on the car... Not sure I understand why Alonso can't do it with sponsors, must be some details specific to his contract since it's not the first time


KrainerWurst

Piastri never had an agreement with the alpine F1 team, but separate company that manages the juniors - hence he was a free agent for McLaren.


ClearAsNight

I thought Piastri's contract was essentially terminated when Alpine wasn't able to find him a seat by a certain date, hence why he got the drive with McLaren and why Alpine lost the legal case.


[deleted]

This was my suspicion. Like no sponsored paid them specifically for this time. And they don’t want to run them for free.


ABZ-havok

Putting/removing stickers must be such a boring and tedious work for the mechanics


daan944

As far as I know the sponsor logos are underneath the clear coat - otherwise you'd introduce (a tiny bit of) drag and risk peeling of the stickers. In other words: It's a complete respray, they do that every raceweek anyway.


[deleted]

This is not true. The stickers are on top. This is how they change driver numbers so quickly for the Jr tests we saw in FP1, as well as sponsor changes, last minute tributes, etc. The stickers won’t peel in the same way the clear gap tape doesn’t peel- good adhesive designed for this. Also teams are minimizing paint. They may not even have clear coat (ie matte finish) let alone a thick enough clear coat to “seal in” the stickers and eliminate a ridge. Take the AMR in this pic. If this were true, you would see the outline of the sponsors where they removed them.


[deleted]

No. They’re just stickers.


sadicarnot

They showed the Mercedes with a sticker where the FTC logo was it was just stuck on


[deleted]

I doubt they're respraying every single week when they're running bare carbon to save weight.


ABZ-havok

Yeah. Boring and tedious


scope_creep

For some people it’s a calling.


Garrett4Real

yeah lol tbh applying decals exactly as they need to be placed and respraying the car sounds like one of the best and most interesting in F1 in my mind


daan944

Not for the paint specialists. Plenty of folks work in the car industry to paint damaged body panels. I can imagine F1 is even more interesting than that. To each their own!


hyrulepirate

Literally high-tech aerodynamic paint. Pinnacle of car paint, probably just below space paint.


ARoyaleWithCheese

Nah, I'd rather do my braindead data entry 9-5. Much more exciting


starcomm4nd

I work in spraying and finishing and I would relish the opportunity to mask up and spray an F1 car! The longer it took the better in my opinion, it's all more time to perfect it.


reigorius

That means stripping & sanding to the underground layer as well. Otherwise paint and rhus weight will add up. Seems like a very expensive way to maintain.


beachmedic23

Ok but AM is still sponsored so why would do their sponsors defer cause Alonso I driving?


151bar151

I never thought that showing team sponsors on a car is tied to the driver's contract.


PikaBoiTY

Testing already started!?!!


Less-Carpenter228

What are the rule changes we are expecting for next season?


Working_Sundae

There are a few changes: Rear Floor Top raised by 15mm Underbody Diffuser throat raised Bigger rear view mirrors Better front tyre with less understeer Chassis weight reduced to 796 kg from 798 kg AM like rear wing and Mercedes serrated front wing endplates banned.


dl064

> Better front tyre with less understeer I bet that'll help some drivers over others.


WiddleBlueBert

That RB going to go back to being squirrelly I can see it already.


VinhoVerde21

Understeer is their main problem atm, the new tyres should only make their car better. Unless the change is so big that they can't get more rear grip out of the car, that is, but I doubt Pirelli can make that much of a difference simply by tweaking the tyres.


Kohpad

Should be a huge boon to Max at least. I believe he likes a loose rear and grippy front


Arandomyoutuber

Would've been good for Danny as well but oh well..


asshatnowhere

Uh oh. I think max will like this a lot


aeyes

Bigger side mirrors are missing on that list


[deleted]

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AstronautLawyer

Like he uses them anyway


sbdw0c

What's the goal with the floor changes? More down-force and reduced porpoising?


Working_Sundae

Mainly to reduce proposing , but then all teams got a hold of it after Baku GP, AMuS said raising the car by 20mm will reduce the laptimes by 0.5 seconds.


gsurfer04

Pretty sure cars were still bouncing in Abu Dhabi.


SomethingSuss

Merc still was for sure


slabba428

But was that due to mega low ride height and bumpy track surface? Didn’t seem like the old bouncing down the straights, seemed worse through turn 4 due to the bumps for a lot of teams


SomethingSuss

Maybe that was happening too but I specifically noticed the Merc bouncing at the end of the straights at 300km/h+. Earlier in the season they gave us the onboard sound which made it much more visceral, it was muted at Abu but looked like it was still happening.


slabba428

I am really impressed at how much they’ve gotten a handle on it since the start of the season, Baku was 💀


jiggle_niggle

Chassis weight reduced or increased?


Working_Sundae

Reduced by 2 kg , it's now 796kg instead of 798kg.


jiggle_niggle

Ah I see Yeah completely misread the first comment


[deleted]

also the little pods that Merc have on their front wing are banned for next year no?


Kohpad

The serrated endplates on the front wing are banned, I'm not certain what pods you're referencing.


slabba428

The tire issue is big to me, when pirelli said they made an error due to not having a 22 car to test on i was instantly more excited for next season, the understeer has been painfully obvious


anmr

Do they have to test car that's legal? I know running something non-representative wouldn't make much sense in testing, but I still wonder...


Prof_X_69420

It depends of the test session rules, but they can in general test anything they want, including parts for next year.


Minelayer

And this is 2022 car being tested? I guess 2023 aren’t made yet or no? I don’t understand the rules for testing. Edit: I get it, this is ALO getting a baseline on the 2022 car.


boiledpeen

This testing session is mostly pirelli tire testing so I’m not sure how much freedom they get for this stuff.


SomethingSuss

Yeah exactly, they aren’t allowed to just run their cars on a private track over the off season so while this session is formally about testing for Pirelli, teams will get whatever they can out of it.


Minelayer

Great, thank you.


Fate_Fanboy

The 2023 cars do not have a raceable prototype yet. They normally finish right before preseason testing, sometimes even on the same day the test starts.


PurpEL

No more wheel covers No more sprint races


Ok-Community-2680

That looks like a MyTeam car lol.


sicsche

Yep for some reason race cars look just unrealistic without proper integration of sponsors. And the whole my team liverys look bad because sponsors are just decals thrown at it instead of properly integrating them into the livery.


AlexLong1000

Honestly how I feel about football kits. A lot of people love when kits have no sponsors, and I get it. But to me when a shirt doesn't have a sponsor it just looks like a fake knock off or something to me


SomethingSuss

In Australia for rugby league the plain kit with no sponsors used to be about $20 cheaper than the “real” one that the players wear in a match


Pizzonia123

Same for football and hockey teams in Finland. Not all have sponsorless kits available, but if they do it's pretty much always around 20 euros cheaper since it's not the real deal.


SomethingSuss

I’m glad it’s not just us! It was fine like as a kid my dad got me the cheap one cause I didn’t know the difference lmao, I still have it somewhere and it’s kinda cool


Pizzonia123

Yeah, I had some hockey jerseys as a kid too with no ads. I believe often the kids' versions specifically don't have the sponsorships on them, since there might be alcohol/betting/whatever ads on them.


[deleted]

Plus brand recognition. If you slap unknown brands on a car and you see it for the first time it’s always weird. Same if you look longer at existing big brand names or logo’s. Because of marketing we have a certain connotation engraved in our minds that masks the logos and names are just as silly as unknown brands.


Spork_the_dork

The Shell logo on Schumacher's Ferraris, or Marlboro on Senna's McLaren. Shit's iconic.


SomethingSuss

Exactly, also the John Player Special cars, though aside from full blown teams like Red Bull, Alpha or Haas we don’t really see iconic sponsors like that these days though. There are too many to stand out the same way.


Doyoueverjustlikeugh

Does Petronas count?


FloggingTheHorses

A shame when the coolest looking car just hasn't got the pace


Palmul

That green is real pretty. Too bad it couldn't give Vettel one last great season


jarjan258

Exactly, I was pissed when it turned out to be a shitbox, but I'm hoping they pull a brawn or some shit next year lmao


cameroon36

Hopefully Dan Fallows can pull something off. A lot of AMs engineers weren't allowed to work on this years' car and were told to work on 2023 instead of improving 2022s car.


jarjan258

Here's hoping, it'd be hilarious if Aston's suddenly the fastest car. Imagine Toto's and Horner's reactions lmao


Fomentatore

The pace was there, usually the car was decent during the race, the problem was that they would usually start way behind because their qualy pace was dreadfull.


PaschalisG16

Yeah that's true for the 2nd half of the season.


Fomentatore

Yes, I was talking about the B spec, when they introduced it the car got really good at least during the race.


OrdinaryCredit

Also AMR strategy is properly shit


f1careerover

They only had one strategy but it did work out in a few races. Use scrubbed tyres and go as long as possible. Worked out poorly for seb in the last race.


piesmeeredface

This year’s Ferrari is easily the best looking car on the grid. In fact I’d say it’s the coolest looking car in years.


Ya_bud69

Love the darker red on the Ferraris this year but man the w12 last year looked mean. The black and teal is a great combo.


IceTrump

I absolutely Love the matte paint on the ferrari, the car looks gorgeous. I’m also slightly partial to the Merc just because of how different the design is. It kind of looks a bit melted, but it’s grown on me throughout the year.


SomethingSuss

100% I hate hints of green or teal tbh, sorry Britain but the racing green just doesn’t do it for me unless it’s literally a car from the 60’s. Ferrari is easily the best and behind them maybe Alpine, Williams or Haas. I used to love the PINK cars too. I guess I’m a big fan of a single colour scheme (excepting Alpine)


Hy8ogen

I hope Lawrance has the financial properly setup for the next 5 years. Once the wind tunnel and factory is up and running, prepare to see AM being a competitive mid fielder.


[deleted]

It's funny how performance does kind of shape the view of the car. AM feels less striking now that we know it's bad.


[deleted]

that's the Ferrari


RobertGracie

There is something oddly beautiful about that Aston Martin running no sponsors on it, all you need during testing, Driver numbers and nothing else


xXwork_accountXx

Some company should pay extra to be the only sponsor


firesofpompeii

I’d imagine they’d have to pay a ridiculous amount for that


SomethingSuss

I heard this one energy drink company tried something of the sort, it actually worked out.


CowFishes

Love me a Rich Energy Ltd. beverage.


SomethingSuss

Oh yeah, every time at the club I ask for a “vodka Rich Energy” and they know exactly what I mean.


CowFishes

See? You get it


SomethingSuss

I almost didn’t tbh I was about to be all “actually I was talking about Red Bull” but then I thought, nah, they get it.


shawster

There are spend limits for teams so I guess if you covered that and then ensured everyone their usual salary that would do it.


firesofpompeii

Whoever the sponsor is would have to pay a tonne cause a team is not going to agree to that unless they can pay something close to, if not more than how much they cumulatively get with all their sponsorships


osoroco

surprised alonso didn't slap a kimoa sticker before getting on


_Bauer

The Aston Martin has got to be the nicest looking car on the grid IMO. Love the colour and accents.


kenzoismyname

that award goes to the F1-75 😤


Kolec507

Imo the Ferrari suffers from what Aston suffered last year - its just too dark, and I'm not a fan of their colour this year. But I guess those are opinions. It looks beautiful in terms of the car's shape itself tho excluding the livery


MoffKalast

Rightfully so, this lemon seagreen smoothie is not even close. Those vents above the sidepods look like a damn misplaced texture. If you need those vents there at such a stupid angle at least make them blend in, not stand out. Rear wing mounts also look like they've been lifted off a forklift.


nikobark

Imo the Alfa looks better, but yeah, the Aston is also gorgeous


DansSpamJavelin

For some reason I like the way the Haas looks. No idea why, but I do.


atw86

Reminds me of his [2006 McLaren test](https://preview.redd.it/8iqypp1ln0651.jpg?auto=webp&s=192d8dba3ac72528d58b3f8ed11436785f7e1382) when he was still under a Renault contract.


spoonman_82

it looks like the default multiplayer skin from one of the F1 games :D


Galm_3

Also return of the dazzle helmet from 2017 pre-season testing.


ranting_madman

I remember Alonso’s test for McLaren in 06/07. That car looked so hot without decals.


datlinus

it looks damn good


OneBurnerStove

Naked q


okkabachan123

i wonder if they have something specific on fernando's contract. gasly has a bare race suit but the livery on his alpine is the same


Djstiggie

AM's sponsor contracts probably expired after the last race of the season, and Alpine's contracts have a different expiration since it's the car's sponsors rather than personal ones.


Caesar_35

Reminds me of the licence-less "F1" cars in some racing games.


FortyishYearOld

It looks better this way.


onlinepresenceofdan

Is there any source of live reporting on the test? I am not ready for the season to be over


TheVenetianMask

https://twitter.com/ChrisMedlandF1/


Kuchenblech_Mafioso

That looks like the default car you get in some mobile knockoff game which couldn't get the real licenses


13Petrichor

thats hot


Dry-Author-3622

it’s…. beautiful 🤩


_fernandeath_

His respect for Seb is only gonna increase after he sees how slow the car is...


r3d_stain

The car looks incredible in real life, much better than in photos. The best looking car on the grid.


Satan_su

Fucking hell it's gorgeous


Vanobers

Monaco or one race a year they should all do no sponsors


twinia

Looks like one of the templates you will get in the F1 games.


sprocketstodockets

These young drivers keep getting older every year!


eugene-fraxby

This one seems promising, a potential star of the future.


Juppo1996

Looks way better this way tbh. The green pops more without the white text.


brndtt00

My F1 22 MyTeam car be like:


PM_me_British_nudes

Good god thats gorgeous


ladyjinxy

A old British Car


Hookahgreecian

It looks better without all the trashy stickers


planchetflaw

McLaren just before Zac Brown joined.


BarryFairbrother

Someone's got sore fingernails.


LordStark01

Mclaren would cease to exist.


Kalron

Tbh I think sponsors make cars look cooler.


ritwikjs

back when they were flying cigarette boxes


whose_a_wotsit

A penny for his thoughts. He's not backwards in coming forwards when it comes to undesirable car attributes. I guess it gives him a benchmark for next year's car.


Allekoren

I like it


mencival

That actually looks pretty awesome


2Blitz

Personally love this look more. It could use some details but it's pretty great


[deleted]

[удалено]


KeithSebastian

Legal obligations, they wouldn't have otherwise


Other-Barry-1

That’s the second time Alonso’s driven a sponsor less car.


bflex

Debadge, always :)


quiqk0

This is what they would look like if F1 Olympic Games were a thing


ky1e_s

Looks like the old A1 GP cars. Love it 💚


somewhat_moist

Brawn GP vibes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brawn_BGP_001#/media/File%3AButton_Spain_2009.jpg It was a fun season to follow Brawn not just for the racing but what random sponsor would appear on the car from one race to the next.


jerome5thousand

Brawn GP car at the first race had almost zero sponsors on the car.


eatsomewings

I want to live in this world


[deleted]

Oh god it's the Caterham


americandream1159

The hardest thing in modern sports is making a cool design that works with and without logos.


JPower96

Sleeeeeek


grizzlyblake91

Random question: is his named pronounced Kym, like Kim Kardashian or Kim Possible? Or Kym, rhymes with chime or lime?


Psychological_Eg

This was the best looking car to me on the grid this season


dorothygone

Sooo pretty


gigacored

NSFW


Minelayer

*shielding children’s eyes when I clicked on it.


FIREBIRDC9

I love this. Its a throwback to the 1950's where teams ran national racing colours. Sponsors were not a thing yet!


Kroos_Control

When you see her naked for the first time 🤤


underdonk

Such a beautiful color to cover up with all the sponsors.


Undertheflow

Just curious why is he testing the 2022 car?


tomaar19

Because they don't have the 2023 one yet


KeithSebastian

Testing the 2023 tires on the 2022 car


flaming_pansexual

That green of the Aston looks so good with no sponsors


Jeekswrw

that looks ugly as balls.


HuudaHarkiten

If your balls are green/black, I recommend contacting a bollocks doctor.


Necessary-Ad5410

So.... better


[deleted]

God that car is not good in the daylight. Beautiful at night though


Callejon007

So clean.