Barely 12 hours after the big reveal in Salzburg, Daniil Kvyat hit the track in the new AlphaTauri at Misano on Saturday.
The Russian shared driving duties with teammate Pierre Gasly for the filming day, which doubled as a shakedown of the new car ahead of testing, which begins on Wednesday.
Already, expectations have been raised with team boss Franz Tost targeting the front of the midfield, and speaking at the launch, Kvyat was equally optimistic.
“Obviously, it’s a big thing going on here tonight – a new name for the team and a new livery,” he said of the transition from Toro Rosso to AlphaTauri.
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“Technically, the team is going to carry on the evolution from last year and I would say that it was a strong year, in terms of the team’s performance.
“A highlight for me was the podium in Germany and other strong races as well, so we just want to continue in this way this year as well.
“There is a lot of hard work behind the scenes and we are really hopeful for a good year, so very exciting times,” he added.
“We go testing for real in Barcelona next week. The colour white feels very elegant, so very cool times.”