Alfa Romeo’s best qualifying result for the French Grand Prix was Valtteri Bottas’ thirteenth place, but thanks to penalties from Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen, the Finn starts two positions higher.
Valtteri’s team-mate Guanyu Zhou did not make it out of the first part of qualifying, which explains a lack of grip on the rear tires.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: “Our riders start 11th and 16th – from these positions we have good chances to compete for points. Today’s results were not what we had hoped for at the start of the day, but the weekend is not over and there is a lot of battle ahead.
We assumed the fight in the middle of the pack would be very tight – and it happened. The gaps are minimal and we couldn’t be on the brink of battle.
Tomorrow will be a long day – we will regain a few positions thanks to penalties, and you can overtake on this track. The team will prepare and try to earn points – I’m sure we will do well.”
Valtteri Bottas (13th): “Good qualifying and starting from eleventh position offers opportunities. It’s a shame that I had to use two sets of new tires in the first session – this left one set for the second. I missed a few tenths to get to the final, but still a good qualifying.
I hope that tomorrow we will take a step forward at race pace. In the worst case, we will only be able to perform slightly better than in qualifying.
It is difficult to predict how tires will perform in a race at such high temperatures. In general I’m happy with myself – I did well in circles, but I didn’t have enough speed.
Guanyu Zhou (18th): “Given the way we prepared for qualifying, I certainly expected more, but I had balance problems throughout the session. Qualifying wasn’t perfect – the lack of grip was a big surprise and kept me from getting a clean lap. In addition, I made a few mistakes in the second sector on the first attempt and nearly flew out into Turn 6 on the second attempt.
The lack of grip on the rear wheels is frustrating – you have to find the cause. I believe the result does not match our speed.
Tomorrow it will be difficult to monitor the condition of the tires, but I expect to have a lot of opportunities if I start from 16th position. The main objective remains the same: earn points with two cars. We have everything to fight.”
Source: F1 News
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