Bottas: The result does not reflect the car’s capabilities

Alfa Romeo racers failed to qualify in Abu Dhabi – Guanyu Zhou only showed the 15th fastest time, and his partner Valtteri Bottas did not leave the first part at all. The team attributed these results to traffic and lack of momentum.

Frederick Vasseur, Team boss: “Before qualifying, our form was better, so we are disappointed that we didn’t make it to the final. We had problems warming up the tires for the fast lap – as a result there was not enough pace in a situation where the breaks in the middle of the pack were minimal.

Now is not the time to despair – tomorrow is a long race and we have repeatedly shown that we can catch up on Sunday. Tomorrow we will do our best until the last corner of the last lap to reach our goal.”

Guanyu Zhou (15th): “I feel like I squeezed everything out of the car and had a good qualifying. Unfortunately, at the start there was not enough pace to take higher positions.

Friday went well enough, while today turned out to be more difficult. The problems started in the third practice. At one point it looked like we had speed again, but I don’t think it would be enough to make it to the final.

We expected more. Since the battle in the middle group was very tight in the first part, I hope we can fight for the results we worked hard for in the race.”

Valttery Bottas (18th): “Before qualifying we knew we had a good pace, so I don’t think today’s result reflects the car’s capabilities. Qualifying turned out to be strange – I couldn’t warm up the tires on the lap of exiting the pits, ruining the first sector.

For the second attempt, I found myself in heavy traffic on the exit circle from the pits – I practically had to pull over, which ruined my attempt. This result is disappointing, but now we have to prepare as best we can for tomorrow’s race.”