Alfa Romeo Racing were left with little to celebrate from the Mexican Grand Prix, as the team endured another tough race.
Kimi Räikkönen‘s car took floor damage on the opening lap, hence a drop in performance and running as high as thirteenth. The Finn retired with thirteen laps remaining with cooling problems after the contact.
Räikkönen’s run without points stretches to six races and remains in fourteenth position in the Drivers’ Championship on thirty-one points.
The former World Champion had felt that it was an “unfortunate” way to end the weekend, as he thought at times his pace was not as bad in some stages during the Grand Prix.
“It’s a shame to have to retire from the race because generally we had been a bit happier with things this weekend,” Räikkönen said.
“Unfortunately, much of our day was decided at the start. I got squeezed between two cars and a big chunk of my floor was destroyed. The cooling was damaged too and later in the race the temperatures went very high and we had to stop the car.
“It’s unfortunate but that’s how racing goes sometimes. At some point our pace wasn’t too bad, so let’s hope we can keep improving next week.”
Antonio Giovinazzi had a lonely race to fourteenth, one place higher than his grid spot. However, a problem in the pits cost him crucial time and any chance of overtaking anymore cars for position.
The Italian leaves the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez still on four points to his 2019 credit and finds that Alfa Romeo have a lot of work to do before the next round in Austin.
“My start wasn’t too bad and in the opening phases I was racing with the Renaults and Racing Points, but the pit-stop issue cost us a lot of time,” Giovinazzi added.
“After that, with no Safety Car or VSC, our race was effectively compromised. I was pretty much on my own for the rest of the afternoon, so it’s hard to tell where we stood in terms of pace. We will need to work hard to get back in time for next week, in Austin.”
Thanks to a pointless weekend from their nearest rivals Haas F1 Team, Alfa Romeo have kept their seven-point lead over them in the Constructors’ Championship with only three races left.
Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur was unhappy with the Mexican result for his team, as Giovinazzi’s lengthy pit-stop harmed the driver’s progress.
“It’s disappointing to leave Mexico without points because our overall performance throughout the weekend had been better than previously,” Vasseur quoted.
“Unfortunately, Kimi sustained damage to the floor and cooling system at the first corner. He lost a lot of performance and later in the race the cooling issues meant he had to stop.
“Antonio was on a good strategy and was showing some decent pace, but lost more than 20 seconds in the pit-stop and that put him back in blue flag territory, meaning he wasn’t able to make any progress.
“We can rue the loss of this opportunity, because we could have been battling with the Toro Rossos for the points, but we can look forward to racing again in seven days.”
