Valtteri Bottas hopes there is pace to come from Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN this weekend when they introduce on Saturday the new parts to the car that they did not do on Friday at the Circuit of the Americas.
The Finn, who sat out the first session of the United States Grand Prix weekend to allow Sauber Academy driver and current FIA Formula 2 star Théo Pourchaire to experience a free practice session for the first time, ended second fastest when he did get out on track, but this was far from representative as it was during a session primarily dedicated to a Pirelli tyre test.
With Alfa Romeo holding back on introducing their new components to Saturday, Bottas hopes this was the right move and they can be a contender for Q3 during Saturday’s Qualifying session and for points on Sunday afternoon.
“Today has been a bit of a peculiar day, both because of the Pirelli tyre test and because FP2 has been my first session in the car,” said Bottas. “I was still able to do a couple of runs to set the car up in the early part of the session, before I switched to the Pirelli programme, so those lap times are not really representative: still, the overall feeling is positive.
“I was able to get up to speed immediately and the car didn’t feel too bad, even though we didn’t have the upgrades we’re saving for tomorrow: hopefully this means there’s still quite some margin for improvement.
“I think a shot at Q3 is realistic but, as always, the key to being at the top of such a close midfield will be perfect execution.”
“Q2, as always, will be our minimum aim” – Zhou Guanyu
Team-mate Zhou Guanyu will participate in his first race at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend, and the Chinese driver felt it was one of the bumpiest tracks he has driven on so far in his career.
Zhou took time to learn the track during the first session and ended twelfth fastest, while he was fourteenth in the less representative second session as he too participated in the Pirelli tyre test.
Zhou knows he will drop five places on the grid for Sunday’s race after Alfa Romeo introduced a new power unit to his car, but he has targets of reaching at least Q2 and maybe Q3 in Saturday afternoon’s Qualifying session.
“It’s been good fun out there today: the track is one of the bumpiest I’ve driven so far, but nevertheless it felt like a nice layout, with a nice variety of different speed corners,” said Zhou.
“I think I learned quite a lot, even though FP2 was a bit limited because of the tyre test: in the first practice session, I felt at ease straight away, so hopefully we can keep up this momentum ahead of qualifying tomorrow.
“Q2, as always, will be our minimum aim; we know we’ve done it before and we want to do it again. The battle for Q3 will likely be quite tight, and much will depend on how good one’s lap is. If everything works with the new package, then we can have a nice shot at it, even though I will have a five-place grid penalty for Sunday.
“It will be a bit difficult starting from behind, but of course we will do our best.”
