Alfa Romeo in a big way
On a Thursday night in the United States full of twists and turns and controversial episodes, on and off the track, there was also no shortage of positive surprises at the end of the race. PL2 of the Grand Prix of Las Vegas.
On a track which, as expected, put the riders in difficulty due to the lack of grip due to the low temperatures, the name of one of the most unexpected competitors appeared in the top-5 of the final ranking: Valtteri Bottas. The Finn, at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo with a look that recalls gambling, the heart of Las Vegas, in fact closed in fifth positiona ‘sandwich’ between the two Red Bulls of Perez and Verstappen.
Bottas calls for calm
In 36 total laps completed, the former Mercedes established his best performance in 1:36.129just 44 thousandths behind the Mexican driver: “Finish in the top five it’s always nice, but it’s still early and we can’t get too carried away – declared the winner of 10 GPs in his career – Tomorrow everyone will improve enormously and we will have to do the same, but as far as today is concerned, we did well. We have a clear direction to follow with the set-up to improve the balance of the car, which is still a little understeer in low speed corners, and there is a lot of time to gain if we can solve this problem. The track is just as we expected: very fast, with long straights and very slippery at the beginning of the session. Grip has improved with each lap and we expect further evolution tomorrow. Now we need to focus on finding further performances in view of qualifying: it will be an even longer night than it has already been, but we are motivated to continue at this level.”
Two different setups
A more complex session, however, for teammate Guanyu Zhou, also author of 36 total laps but third from last in the standings, and therefore 18th: “It was definitely an interesting session, both for the weather and the track conditions – has explained – I don’t think the final ranking shows our true pace: to explore more options, we chose a different set-up to Valtteri’s, which didn’t work as well as his, and I blocked and going straight on my last lap, so we know we can extract more from the car. Discovering the track was a bit difficult: the surface was very slippery, which didn’t surprise me given the new asphalt and yesterday’s rain, but she improved a lot over the course of the session and I expect her to continue to do so tomorrow and that lap times continue to drop. This track seems to reward confidence in braking and tire temperature will be crucial. We will have to find the best plan to do it in qualifying, especially taking into account the lower temperatures we may encounter tomorrow.”
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