Frederic Vasseur: We fought with dignity

Alfa Romeo finally managed to break through a series of races in which it was not possible to earn points: at Monza, Guanyu Zhou finished tenth. Valtteri Bottas was hampered by the aftermath of a blow he received in the first corner after contacting Kevin Magnussen’s car, after which he rolled back to last position but was able to bounce back to finish 13th.

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: “The weekend ended on a positive note and Zhou’s point was a nice reward. From Friday we showed a normal pace, Guanyu in particular showed the 6th fastest time in the first part of qualifying, but on Sunday it was necessary to get the job done.

Although overtaking was difficult, we fought well in the middle of the pack, Zhou made no mistakes and the team was able to put in a productive race. Unfortunately Valtteri was prevented by the consequences of a collision at the start, and yet the main result of the day was our reasonably good pace: if we maintain that in the next races, we can replenish the points pool.”

Valtteri Bottas (13th): “Today we were able to ride a good pace, so it’s a shame I couldn’t score any points. My race was somewhat ruined in the very first corner when I was hit from behind and crashed into the vehicle in front.

The front wing was damaged, I lost one of the end plates and then the mode that prevents the power plant from shutting down was activated. Before I could get back to my normal pace, I lost a lot of ground and finished last.

However, the machine worked efficiently, so I was able to recover somewhat, although the damage made it difficult. But thanks to Zhou, at least the team earned something.

Now we are waiting for a short break and I am already looking forward to that, after which we will attack with full force until the end of the season. We know we can earn points and I really want to finish the year in a higher position than we are now.”

Guanyu Zhou (10th): “I am very satisfied with both the result and the work we have done over the past few weeks. After Montreal, a difficult period started for us, because we performed with a lot of confidence at the beginning of the season, but after that there was a drop in our results.

However, it is very nice to finish in the top ten again, this is a great result for both the team and Alfa Romeo. We knew we would have opportunities in Monza and we showed a good pace, which allowed us to fight with other teams.

We have a few weeks of rest ahead of us and we will be able to recover after a run of three races in a row, but the most important thing is that we will have time to analyze what happened this weekend, what is wrong gone in previous races, and prepare for the next stages.