Alfa Romeo’s Frédéric Vasseur: “We undoubtedly expected more from last weekend”

Frédéric Vasseur admitted the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN squad expected more from Sunday’s United States Grand Prix as they failed to score a point at the Circuit of the Americas despite promising pace from their upgraded C42-Ferrari.

Valtteri Bottas was in contention for the top ten only to spin out, while Zhou Guanyu could not better thirteenth at the chequered flag, although that became eleventh once Fernando Alonso and Alexander Albon had penalties applied.

Alfa Romeo’s points advantage over the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team has been further reduced as a result of the outcome in Austin, with just a single point separating the two teams now as they battle over sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Vasseur says Alfa Romeo must regroup and fight back, with Q3 the minimum aim during this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix if they want to be contending for points on Sunday afternoon.

“We undoubtedly expected more from last weekend: the race pace was promising, and it seemed like points were within reach for us, but eventually things didn’t go our way,” admitted Vasseur.

“Heading back on track right away, we have the opportunity to turn the tide and continue working on our performances, which have been improving with the upgrades we brought in Japan and Austin.

“Mexico will be, as usual, a challenging race due to the altitude and the peculiarities of the track, so we must be at our very best to avoid making mistakes.

“We know our cars have the potential to get into Q3, and that should be our aim ahead of the weekend, to put ourselves in a favourable position to get in the fight for points and secure our place in the championship.”