Alfa Romeo show off Valentine’s Day livery as Kimi Raikkonen helps reveal their new car

There is already plenty of romance surrounding Alfa Romeo returning to Formula One as a full team name ahead of the 2019 campaign.

But love really is in the air at the team, who offered the first look of their new car for the upcoming season by running a Valentine’s Day livery during a shakedown session on Thursday.

The livery features patterns of hearts and shamrocks interlinked, with the latter a traditional symbol used by Alfa Romeo on all their sports cars as a symbol of good luck.

Alfa Romeo offered the first glimpse of their new F1 car for the 2019 season on Thursday

The team ran a Valentine’s Day livery for the occasion with Kimi Raikkonen behind the wheel

Raikkonen sits in the pit-lane before venturing out onto the track at Fiorano

Fans of the design though will be disappointed that it is only a one-off and it will not be used during the season or even in pre-season testing. 

Kimi Raikkonen had the privilege of driving the car for the first time at the Ferrari-owned Fiorano test track in Italy as part of a shakedown session.

All the teams on the grid are permitted to run two on-track promotional events, with Mercedes, Red Bull and Toro Rosso having made similar runs with their new cars.

Alfa Romeo are due to officially unveil their challenger for the new season on the morning of the first winter test that starts on Monday at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Raikkonen helped give the new Alfa a shakedown run at the Ferrari owned Fiorano test track

The Valentine’s Day livery featured hearts and shamrocks – the latter a traditional team symbol

Raikkonen joins the team from Ferrari, and in doing so returns to an outfit who handed him his F1 debut in 2001 while running under the Sauber name.

Although Sauber still own the team, their name has been dropped and will not appear on the grid for the first time since 1992.

Antonio Giovinazzi will be Raikkonen’s team-mate ahead of his first full season in the sport, having competed in two races for Sauber in 2017.

Alfa Romeo last competed as a stand out team in 1985 during a forgettable seven-year run. It paled in comparison to their first spell when they dominated the sports’ first two years, winning championships for Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1950 and 1951.

Alfa Romeo will run as a stand out team name having been a title sponsor for Sauber in 2018