Valtteri Bottas missed the opening free practice session at the Circuit Paul Ricard as Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN gave test driver Robert Kubica a run, but the Finn was able to get into a rhythm quickly when he got out on track in the second session.

Bottas completed twenty-seven laps on Friday afternoon and placed twelfth in the fastest times, but he knows the team will need to find some more pace if they want to be at the front of the extra-tight midfield pack this weekend.

However, he has high hopes and believes in his team, and feels they can perform well in Saturday’s Qualifying session before fighting for points on Sunday.

“Stepping into the car at the beginning of FP2, it took me a few laps to get into the rhythm but I had a good feeling with the car straight away,” said Bottas.  “The midfield seems even closer than usual, and I have a feeling there’s a lot more to come, both from the car and myself.

“I am looking forward to qualifying: I think we have a good chance of doing well.”

“The direction we need to take for tomorrow is clear” – Zhou Guanyu

Team-mate Zhou Guanyu had a smooth day in the second Alfa Romeo, ending eleventh fastest in the morning session and seventeenth in the second as he adapted to the track in a Formula 1 car for the first time.

Zhou feels the team have made progress since the Austrian Grand Prix two weeks ago, and even though the midfield pack is once again extremely tight, he believes he has what it takes to fight through Qualifying and get into the top ten.

“It has been quite a smooth day for me; we went through the whole programme we had set out to achieve without issues,” said Zhou.  “It was very hot out there, very tricky in terms of managing the tyres, but it’s the same for everyone and the key will be to find the best way to set the car up.

“FP1 has been very good and I was very comfortable, while in FP2, where we tried something different on the two cars, I personally struggled a little bit: however, I reckon the direction we need to take for tomorrow is clear, so I am looking forward to qualifying.

“Looking at our performances today, I think we look stronger than in Austria, so it’s a good step up, but then again it is once again super tight in the midfield battle, and tyres will make the difference: it will be all about getting laps together in qualifying and trying to avoid getting into traffic.

“Tomorrow will be a challenge and Sunday will be too, given the heat and the temperature, but I can’t wait to put myself in the game.”

“It’s been a busy session on my side of the garage” – Robert Kubica

Test driver Kubica had a busy morning session as he participated in his second FP1 of the season, and he admitted it was tough conditions thanks to the heat at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

Kubica says the C42-Ferrari felt much different to compared to when he last drove the car, which he believed was down to the heat, and he hopes the data he was able to gather will help the team move forward across the rest of the weekend.

“It’s been a busy session on my side of the garage: we had quite a lot of boxes to tick in these 60 minutes, from rake runs for data at the beginning of the session to a tight schedule of runs later in the hour,” said Kubica.

“It was definitely warm out there and not the easiest conditions: still, it is always nice to drive a Formula 1 car and help the team with learning the set-up for the track.

“The feeling with the car was quite different from my previous outings, perhaps because of the heat: it will be interesting to go through the data with the engineers and understand better what we encountered, to make the car better for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend.”