The primary half of the 2023 Components 1 season didn’t match expectations for Alfa Romeo. The crew managed simply 9 factors over the primary 11 races of the season, and at present sit in ninth place within the Constructors’ Standings, forward of solely AlphaTauri.
With the second half of the season about to get underway, the crew is “keen” to place the primary half behind them, and benefit from their points-scoring possibilities within the remaining races.
Beginning with the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend.
“Zandvoort marks our return from a few weeks off, and it will likely be vital to hit the bottom working,” stated Workforce Consultant Alessandro Alunni Bravi in Alfa Romeo’s media preview of the Dutch Grand Prix. “We’re motivated to get again on monitor and do what we do greatest: the previous couple of races earlier than the break didn’t fairly match our expectations, however we’ve got now put all the things behind us, labored on what we learnt in these races, and we are actually keen to start out the second half of the season.”
The spotlight of the season to date for Zhou Guanyu got here on the Hungarian Grand Prix, the place he certified in fifth, his greatest end in F1. Nonetheless, that was adopted by heartbreak early within the race itself, as Zhou skilled a failure at first and limped to a Sixteenth-place end. That begin touched off a sequence response that noticed each Alpine drivers knocked out of the race.
The second half of the season, in Zhou’s thoughts, offers the crew an opportunity to get “again to enterprise.”
“Having a break is all the time good, particularly in such a busy season, however I’m actually eager to get again to enterprise now,” stated Zhou. “We confirmed enhancements in tempo in the previous couple of rounds and we have to preserve constructing on these: we enter the brand new race weekend, and the second half of the season, prepared to present all of our greatest out to say vital factors and get again the place we belong.”
For Valtteri Bottas, who received a costume contest — and maybe the F1 summer season shutdown itself — at Steamboat Springs final weekend, he believes that the crew can get again into the factors, beginning this weekend. “The crew put in quite a lot of work earlier than the break, having analysed our efficiency from our most up-to-date races; though we didn’t rating factors, we confirmed some promising indicators on the subject of tempo, and I’m assured we are able to put up an excellent struggle to get again into the highest ten,” stated Bottas. “As all the time, it will likely be vital to start out effectively from the very first classes: the battle is shut and there’s no margin for error.”
With the crew lingering in ninth place, a race to the highest of the desk is out of the query. However Alunni Bravi set the marker for the crew over the ultimate half of the season.
Seventh place.
Proper now Alfa Romeo sits simply two factors behind Williams and Haas, who’re tied with 11 factors every. In the intervening time Williams enjoys the tiebreaker with Haas, given Alex Albon’s seventh-place end on the Canadian Grand Prix. However Alunni Bravi believes Alfa Romeo cannot simply catch these two, however surpass them over the remainder of the season.
“Our focus, nonetheless, stays firmly on monitor and on the goal we’ve got set for ourselves, to complete forward of the pack we’re battling proper now and declare P7 within the championship,” stated the Workforce Consultant. “With ten races to go, there are nonetheless a number of alternatives to do effectively and add factors to our tally; the battle all through the sector is tight, and we’re assured we’ve got it in us to show the tide and are available out on high of our battle.”