Frederic Vasseur: Alfa Romeo had a successful season

Alfa Romeo finished sixth in the Constructors’ Championship for the 2022 season, repeating the team’s best result since 2012. It is tied on points with Aston Martin rivals, but thanks to a higher personal result from Valtteri Bottas, who finished 5th at Imola , she was higher in the team standings.

In Abu Dhabi, Alfa Romeo’s best result was Guanyu Zhou’s twelfth place. His teammate Valtteri Bottas finished fifteenth.

Frederick Vasseur, team leader: “Tonight summed up the incredible work of all the team members working both on the track and at the Hinwil base. Sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship exceeds our expectations and targets we set at the start of the year, so we can call the season a success. I am proud of our achievements, which will become a new starting point for further development.

In today’s race, the results of the championship were paramount for us. We knew we started with a deficit, we understood that it would be difficult to earn points, but we acted as one team and made strategic decisions, taking into account the battle for sixth place.

After Hamilton dropped out in the closing laps, the tension was a bit higher than we had hoped! However, the team achieved a result that is so important to us.”

Guanyu Zhou (12th): “I’m proud of the team – not just today’s performance, but the entire season. We gave our best in the race and, despite not earning any points, we achieved our goal: sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

We had to sacrifice my strategy to hold on in the closing laps – I think we succeeded. We gave our best – I fought constantly and had my best overtakes of the season. The team deserved a good result after such a long year.

I had a great debut season, started well and finished well. Of course, not everything went as we wanted – there were reliability issues, but I’m positive and I think we’ll eliminate them in the winter and start better next year.

Overall I enjoyed my first season in Formula 1 – I am grateful to the team, Valtteri and all the fans for their support and I look forward to next year.”

Valttery Bottas (15th): “I am very happy for the team – we achieved an important result, which means a lot to all of us. The battle for sixth place was as fierce as it could get, but we did it and I’m proud of everyone.

Today, only the championship battle was important to us, so before the race we chose a defensive strategy to slow down the opponents when we were ahead of them. The plan worked, but on the last lap I had to get nervous – as I waited for a report on the radio whether it was successful or not, I experienced a kind of deja vu. It is good that the news turned out to be more pleasant this time than last year.

I am proud of the team that has come a long way since winter testing. We earned a lot of points at the beginning of the season – these results were important at the end of the year. We have a great team spirit and we can be proud of the work done, which will take us forward next year. We expect a lot.”