Valtteri Bottas: We missed a great opportunity

In the Dutch phase of the season, the Alfa Romeo team suffered another setback: Valtteri Bottas took 15th place and his Chinese team-mate failed to reach the finish at all, causing the car to crash on a wet track during heavy rain.

Valttery Bottas (15th): “We had a great start and gained a lot of positions, but when it started to rain we stayed on the runway, although it was difficult to fly in such difficult conditions.

Actually, we didn’t intend to take any risks. I was hoping to return to the pits and change the tyres, but I was refused. I think we should start analyzing what happened, because today a great opportunity was missed. I think it was absolutely necessary to go straight to the pits, but it turned out differently.

The grip was very bad, so was the visibility, which made it even more difficult to pilot on this track. In the end we simply didn’t have enough speed to fight for the points. But I know the whole team is working hard to improve.

The next race will be held in Monza on a circuit that is completely different in terms of characteristics and we have to perform better there than here. This is a very important race for us, because there will be a lot of Alfa Romeo employees in the stands, and we want to feel all their support now.

But most of all, I am glad that Zhou was not injured in the accident.”

Guanyu Zhou (didn’t finish): “It’s always frustrating to finish a race hitting a barrier, but most importantly I didn’t get injured. At the same time, I am angry because our race has developed more or less normally so far.

The downpour started quite unexpectedly and it was a difficult moment for me: I was one of the first to get to the first corner and, given the conditions, I didn’t even try to attack. But as soon as I lightly pressed the brake pedal, it started aquaplaning and I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t slow down, the car just went straight ahead and crashed into the threshold.

Before that the race was eventful, I had to work hard, but for a long time we drove in good positions. On a wet track the car showed well, but as soon as the tarmac dried up we didn’t have enough speed to stay in the top ten.

In addition, the arrival of the safety car did not help us: we were running on Medium tyres, hoping to stay on track longer, but when the race was neutralized, our rivals switched to soft tires and it proved impossible to contain them.

Now we go to Monza and hope we can do better in this important race for the team.”