Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN brought out the camouflage-liveried C42 one last time on friday, as Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas ran a combined 52 laps on the final day of pre-season testing in Barcelona.
Zhou was behind the wheel for the morning session, setting a best time of 1:21.939– 13th on the day’s timing sheet– and completing 41 laps. A spin and a hydraulic leak ended up cutting the rookie’s running short.
“It was a positive day, with quite a bit of running and some good indications until nearly the end of the session. I was able to run with the C3 compound, but unfortunately a spin and a small hydraulic leak meant I couldn’t try the C4 tyres.”
Although the position of competing teams remains unclear, Zhou remains optimistic about Alfa Romeo’s progress.
“It’s only testing and we can’t really compare what we are doing against the other teams, but the feeling is that we are going in the right direction. The most important thing is to work together as a team to make sure we take a step forward ahead of testing in Bahrain.”
Bottas was able to complete only 11 laps during the afternoon session as a result of technical problems, and ended up on the bottom of the board with a 1:30.433. He said the information the team gathered in the morning will, however, be sufficient to keep the team moving forward.
“The team has made good progress with the C42, even though I wasn’t able to get all the running I would have liked. A few technical issues stopped us in the afternoon, but the data we collected during the morning session will allow us to keep working and developing the car.
Though Bottas was unable to reach the lap count he wanted, he is sure that Alfa Romeo will be able to make up ground in Bahrain.
“Our focus switches to making the most of the time between now and the Bahrain test, and maximising our mileage when we get there. I am confident we can make up the time we lost and be fully ready for the season ahead.”
Alfa Romeo will be revealing their 2022 livery tomorrow, Sunday 27 February in a public streaming event at 8:30am GMT.