Photo credits: Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake
Alfa Romeo left the Azerbaijan Grand Prix remaining in P8 of the F1 Constructors’ Championship. This was luck more than anything else due to the fact that they – and their rivals either side of them – failed to score any points. Surely, one of the only consolations the team can take away from another challenging weekend.
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake faced many challenges on the streets of Baku during a weekend which never really started. No points at the end of a challenging Sprint event was disappointing but Sunday’s race day on such an unpredictable circuit (known for race incidents) gave the team hope.
Unfortunately though, lap one contact to Valterri Bottas hampered his race and he would cross the line P18. Still an improvement on his teammate’s fortune though as Zhou Guanyu’s race ended prematurely with technical issues. Meaning another DNF in the pinnacle of motorsport for the popular Chinese racer.
Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi shared his post race thoughts in the team’s press release: “This was a disappointing race and it showed that, right now, our package is not competitive enough to score points. The priority for everyone of us in the team – here at the track and back at base – is to work hard and make the improvements necessary to get back where we expect to be. The field remains tight, and we can get back into this battle: but we must deliver a step forward to do so. We are all fully committed to this and we’re going to do whatever it takes to get there.”
Valtteri Bottas unsurprisingly shared a similar sentiment in his remarks to media. The Finnish driver previously won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 2019 but an opening lap incident saw him going backwards early on from his starting position of P14.
“It wasn’t a great race for us and we were never in the mix for the points: we need to understand what happened and, most importantly, how to get back to being competitive. My race was hard from the start: I had a contact in turn two, I was on the outside and I was hit from the left and from behind, which left me with some damage. It was quite a long race after that: we tried to find a way back in, as anything can happen here, but eventually there weren’t any chances for us to rebuild our race,”
Azerbaijan is in the record books now but modern day F1 ensures races come thick and fast so all eyes are already on Miami. As shown by Bottas’ closing remarks: “For sure, we need to improve our pace and do everything we can to move forward. We head straight to Miami now: it is a very different track from this, we will stay motivated and go for it again.”
Meanwhile, Zhou Guanyu shared his thoughts on why his race prematurely ended in the closing stages and indicated an investigation is ongoing.
“Quite the weekend to forget for us: it’s never nice to DNF, but realistically we didn’t have a chance to score points today. We needed to retire the car as a precaution as we had rising temperatures and alarms on my dash,”
“In general, it was a tough weekend for all of us. We need to understand the reasons for this and work hard, all of us, to make a step forward. I am confident this team can do that, I see it in the people here and at home. We will do all in our power to get back where we expect to be and continue to improve,” Zhou Guanyu stated.
Next up is Miami – very much a party city – and any points from there will indeed give reason for Alfa Romeo to celebrate. The best chance to do that is to avoid trouble, and the higher up the grid you are when the lights go out the better chance you have. Therefore, Saturday’s qualifying could already be a pivotal moment for Alfa Romeo. Everyone within the team is talking about making that next step and to do so at one of F1’s flagship events is as good a time as any.
