Valtteri Bottas: the novelties have allowed us to add

Alfa Romeo met their qualifying target, reaching the second session and one to the final via two cars. The plan for the race is to score points with two cars…

Frederic Vasseur, team leader: “After a difficult Friday, the team recovered quickly – we proved that we don’t let problems hinder our work. Today seventh in qualifying was the best possible result and Valtteri put in a great lap to bring us this result.

Bottas has a good chance of scoring points, as does Zhou, who showed a fast pace this weekend. We know that our car is more competitive remotely. I hope both drivers will be able to fight with the closest rivals and earn a few more points for us.”

Valtteri Bottas (7th): “I’m happy with the result, especially because it’s difficult to overtake on this track. We did not expect that this track would suit us so well, but the prepared novelties allowed us to take a step forward.

I think seventh place was the best possible result today and I’m glad I was able to achieve that. Usually our car is more economical in the race, I have a good feeling about it!”

Guanyu Zhou (15th): “I’m optimistic about tomorrow’s race, the speed of the car will allow you to fight to get into the top ten.

I could have qualified 10th or 11th today, but we wanted to avoid a repeat of the situation in Miami when I got stuck in traffic at the end of the first part of qualifying, so we decided to make three attempts on soft tires. Now it is clear that the second attempt was enough to continue.

In the second session it was more difficult – there were no new tires, but we did everything we could. I will try to regain these positions in the race and finish in the top ten.