Valtteri Bottas admitted there were smiles in Alfa Romeo’s garage when his manufacturers’ P6 rivals, Aston Martin, failed to qualify for the Mexican Grand Prix.
On the other hand, it was a brilliant consultation for Bottas, who strangely found himself mixing with Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.
After being seventh fastest in Q1 and more for much of the 18-minute query part, the Finn proved that it’s no coincidence by completing Q2 in P6.
And again, this proved to be an accurate measure of his future and that of the car, as he was given a start in sixth place, sandwiched between the two Ferraris on the grid of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
This represented a huge step forward for Alfa Romeo, which has been sixth in the constructors’ championship for most of the season, but is in danger of ceding that position to Aston Martin, which is doing so quickly.
However, qualifying has been the team on Achilles’ green heel all year and resurfaced in Mexico as Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll exited Q1 just as Bottas was starting to impress.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity [for us],” Bottas told Sky F1. “Obviously, we don’t have to worry too much about them, we have to worry about our performance. “
“But still, I can see some smiles in the garage when they saw they were out in Q1!You know it’s like this. “
“But like I said, it’s a wonderful opportunity for us and we want trouble now. “
Tough consultation for the Finn who will start there tomorrow!? #GP of Mexico
– Alfa Romeo F1 ORLEN Team (@alfaromeoorlen) October 29, 2022
That latest comment is an understatement for the former Mercedes driver, who had an excellent first third of the crusade but has not scored since the Canadian Grand Prix in June, 11 races ago.
“It’s been a while since we got a result like that in qualifying and I think it’s uplifting for the whole team,” Bottas said.
“We have performed well since the beginning of the week and then we were going to continue with this functionality from the first educational session.
“In a way, it’s a pretty simple car to drive. From the first practice, I had smart confidence and we also had the right settings, so we just adjusted and built from smart practice. “
Bottas is positive about his ability to maintain his starting position in the race and says: “Based on all the races we’ve done (low fuel, top fuel), it looks like we’re around sixth or seventh, so hopefully it’s a good time. day. Because we want points.
Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa Romeo is expected to line up in 12th place, giving the team hope of doubling points.
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