1:18 Alfa Romeo C39 – Kimi Raikkonen – Valentine Livery 14.02.2020

Description

Alfa Romeo unveiled this Formula One car in 2020 as both a second love letter to their fans, following the reveal of the C38 in the year before, and also a signal to their competitors. The new C39 was sheened in a black snakeskin livery, with a starkly contrasting red heart, encapsulating the Alfa Romeo logo.

In the driver’s seat was Kimi Raikkonen, and he was tasked with showing off the car on its debut at the Fiorano track in Italy.

The team said, “The snakeskin livery, designed by the Centro Stile Alfa Romeo, is a homage to one of the brand’s dominant icons, the heraldic Biscione – the large serpent featured in the crest of the city of Milan. The snakeskin pattern not only contributed to creating a unique look for this special occasion: it also helped the team camouflage the C39, leaving the secrets its bodywork holds to be revealed at the team’s official launch on February 19^th.”

It was primarily designed by Jan Monchaux, Luca Furbatto and Alessandro Cinelli, and is fitted with a Ferrari 065 V6 Turbo-Hybrid.

The car itself hasn’t done incredibly well, and at the season opening 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, Kimi Raikkonen’s front right tyre came off. This obviously forced his race into retirement. Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo’s other driver, managed a ninth-placed finish, and so won the team two points.

Throughout the rest of the season, the car did gradually improve, and Alfa Romeo finished the season with eight points. However, the C39 has persistently been hampered by the power, or lack thereof, produced by the Ferrari engine. Thus, it has continually struggled to compete with other midfield teams. This is especially true at power-dependant circuits. In many of their races, they were driving at the back of the grid with Haas and Williams.