Frédéric Vasseur admits the disappointment that Valtteri Bottas finished seventh rather than fifth in the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday shows just how far the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN have come in 2022 compared to in recent FIA Formula 1 World Championship seasons.
Bottas was on course for a top five only to make a mistake late in the race whilst defending from the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, which meant the Finn ended seventh at the chequered flag.
Despite losing four points due to the mistake, Vasseur, the Team Principal at Alfa Romeo, says the six points gained will go a long way towards the Constructors’ Championship in 2022, and they know there is still improvements to come with the C42-Ferrari this season.
“It shows how much progress we have made this year that we’re actually a bit disappointed with P7 – which is a really good result in itself,” said Vasseur. “We were really strong out there today and we ran most of the race comfortably in P5, just behind the two Red Bulls and Ferraris: the timing of the Safety Car really affected us, nullifying Valtteri’s advantage over the two Mercedes’.
“Still, bringing home six points is a positive result and another gain for our championship standings, but we know we can improve even more.”
Vasseur admitted it was disappointing to lose the second Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu after just six laps on Sunday, with the Chinese driver suffering a water leak on his C42-Ferrari having made up three places already from his starting position.
Nevertheless, the signs are the team are on an upward swing, and he hopes the competitiveness they’ve shown so far this year can continue into the rest of the season.
“It was disappointing to lose Zhou early in the race with a water leak, as we feel he would have also been in the battle for some points: we will need to address the issue that stopped him and make sure we come back stronger on this point, too,” he said.
“The direction we are headed, however, is clear and it’s positive. We know we can be competitive every weekend and we aim to keep fighting to achieve more success in the next rounds.”