Bottas: We’re not where we want to be yet

Valtteri Bottas closed the record of the second free practice session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. His partner Guanyu Zhou showed the sixteenth time. Alfa Romeo drivers acknowledged the car’s pace is below expectations, but expressed confidence they can add on Saturday.

Guanyu Zhou (16th): “Stressful day behind the wheel. We’re not that far behind our rivals in terms of pace, although I must say we expected more today.

The team tried a lot and changed a lot – you could say I was driving two different cars in the first and second session. It took time to adjust, but now the team has all the information they need to make decisions about the optimal settings.

Every weekend we strive to reach the final – getting the result depends on how much I can squeeze out of the car and achieve on my own in conditions with minimal margins.

There is still work to be done before Saturday, but I am sure we will be fighting for good positions in qualifying.”

Valttery Bottas (20th): “The first impression of the car is quite normal. We haven’t had any major balance issues and we have a good base to work from. The team did a lot on Friday trying different levels of downforce and setup options. Now you need to analyze the collected data and make the right decisions.

Of course we are not in the positions where we want to be – in Bahrain we were the fifth fastest team and here we still need to find the pace to take a step forward for qualifying. These are just Friday’s results and I’m sure we’ll do well when it really matters.

As expected, the battle is very tight with minimal margins, so there is no reason to believe that we won’t be able to regain positions in qualifying. The team will work hard overnight – I don’t think reaching the qualifying final seems like an unattainable goal. We will do our best on Saturday.”