Bottas: The main problems are related to the overheating of the rubber

The Alfa Romeo drivers narrowly missed reaching the qualifying final, indicating that their cars can reach good speed. Both believe they will have a chance to fight for points in the remaining days of the American weekend.

Valtteri Bottas (13th): “It’s warm in Austin, but at least the humidity is low and the feeling is more comfortable than during the previous stage in Qatar. So no problem.

But my biggest problems were with the tires overheating in the last sector of the lap. This caused the car to slide, making it not so easy to complete a clear lap. At least we weren’t far behind the top ten, which is encouraging.

Putting together a good circle was also difficult because of the wind. In any case, we are talking about nuances, but in qualifying the counting is in hundredths of a second and everyone is on an equal footing. However, tomorrow we have one more qualification for the sprint.

You can of course earn more points on Sunday, the Grand Prix always remains a priority and on Saturday we work on a special program. But if there is an opportunity to earn points in the sprint, we will try not to miss it.

Guanyu Zhou (12th): “You can say that I have mixed feelings after qualifying. After the first session the team encountered difficulties, but even on the very first attempt we could not complete the lap quickly enough. However, between sessions we managed to improve the balance of the car and found the right rhythm, which allowed us to fight for the final.

In the end we were less than two hundredths short and this can be considered a positive result. But it remains a shame that we were not able to take the next step. However, we can be satisfied with our work and I am sure that such qualifying results will allow us to perform better on Sunday.

It is clear that the top teams have a noticeable pace advantage, but I believe we can compete with our direct competitors and on Sunday we will try to crack the top ten.”