Frédéric Vasseur admitted the Austrian Grand Prix was a difficult weekend for the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN as they failed to register a points finish with either Valtteri Bottas or Zhou Guanyu.
Bottas started from the pit lane but was in points contention until the final lap, only to miss out on tenth to BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso, with the Finn ending eleventh. A time penalty for Zhou also ruined his race and left him with too much to do to contend for points, ultimately ending fourteenth.
Vasseur, the Team Principal at Alfa Romeo, said the team knew it would always be difficult to score points on Sunday, but the fact they came as close as they did under difficult circumstances gives them hope heading into the next double header later this month, which starts with the French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
“It’s been a difficult weekend for us, and to nearly come away with a point despite all that happened shows the attitude of this team,” said Vasseur. “With Valtteri starting from the Pit Lane and Zhou in P13, we knew we had a tough job ahead of us if we wanted to come away with a good result, and we very nearly did.
“It was a hectic race, with lots of battling and action – a great advertisement for our sport: for the team, we had nearly delivered a great comeback, but the tyre advantage Alonso had on the final lap was too much for Valtteri to overcome, and Zhou’s penalty really put an end to his hopes of points.
“It’s disappointing to leave without a point, but we will regroup and aim to start scoring again in France.”
Alfa Romeo remain sixth in the Constructors’ Championship after the race at the Red Bull Ring, thirty points behind Alpine in fifth but seventeen ahead of the Haas F1 Team in seventh.
