Frédéric Vasseur, the Team Principal of Alfa Romeo Racing, felt the season-opening Australian Grand Prix was just ‘okay’ after Kimi Räikkönen brought home his C38-Ferrari in eighth place to score four points.
Räikkönen was forced to pit early after a visor tear-off lodged itself in his brakes but was still able to bring his car home inside the top ten amid the tight midfield battle, although team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi had a more testing day, suffering car damage on the opening lap after hitting debris from Daniel Ricciardo’s broken front wing and running an alternative strategy, a combination that ended with the Italian finishing down in fifteenth.
Vasseur says the issues for both drivers were unforeseen but both drivers fought as hard as they could in the circumstances and to take home the four points from Albert Park is a positive start to the season, which he hopes can be improved on next time out in the Bahrain Grand Prix at the end of the month.
“For the first race of the season, it was an okay race,” said Vasseur. “We had some small issues which we could not have anticipated and both drivers put up a good fight.
“We are returning home with 4 points, which is a positive. To start the season with one car in the top ten is a good achievement and we will push hard to score some more points at the next Grand Prix in Bahrain.”
