Frédéric Vasseur says the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN deserved their first top ten finish of the 2021 Formula 1 season in last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, with the Team Principal seeing Antonio Giovinazzi finish tenth.
Giovinazzi put in a strong performance throughout the weekend at the Circuit de Monaco, making it through to the top ten shootout for the first time this season before fighting all day long inside the points-paying positions. It could have been better for the Italian, but he lost positions to both Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll during the pit stops.
Vasseur was pleased with the improved performance of the whole team, with Kimi Räikkönen ending just outside the points in eleventh. And he feels the performance levels at Monaco can give everyone some additional motivation heading into the next few races, starting with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix next month.
“It’s great to finally be off the mark and bring home the top ten finish we deserved,” said Vasseur. “We have made great steps forward in the last year, and especially lately: the pace we have shown throughout the weekend demonstrates it.
“We had a car in Q3 for the first time and continued putting both in Q2; we had the pace to make progress and everyone, from the crew to the drivers and the pit wall, did a very fine job today. Our good race pace would have allowed us to finish even higher on any other track, but we can be very pleased with what we showed.
“It’s a big motivation boost for everyone in the team and can give us confidence to do even better in the next few races, starting in Baku.”
