L’Alfa Romeo has finally returned to the points, and even if the oxen (Williams) have now escaped from the stable, we need to close the World Championship in the best possible way. The team from Hinwil is far from eighth place in the constructors’ standings (here the complete standings) but this is the weekend of Istanbul, track on which the Biscione last year caught the wild card on Saturday even with a car that was certainly not competitive. Double qualification in Q3, with Kimi Räikkönen who confirmed himself as a great interpreter of the wet conditions finding the eighth time just two tenths from Lewis Hamilton, and Antonio Giovinazzi tenth. Then, the usual disappointing race, with the Italian stopped by a technical problem and the Finn out of the top-10. This year Alfa is looking for a turnaround on the weekend, and the rain that could fall on Sunday would certainly be an ally, as it was in Sochi. These are the words of Räikkönen and Giovinazzi in view of the Turkish weekend.
Kimi Räikkönen: “It is always nice to finish in the top ten, especially when we have come so close to this goal so many times. The result occurred under very particular conditions, so we can’t get much relevant information out of it, but at the same time we had to make some right choices and we succeeded. We kept our cool in difficult times. Turkey will be another interesting Grand Prix: last year it turned out to be a hectic race, and certain weather conditions could be repeated. We will need to be smart and see how certain situations change over the weekend“.
Antonio Giovinazzi: “I can’t wait to get back to racing in Turkey. The last race weekend was not easy and I think we could have achieved more. But Sochi is the past, I can’t wait to go back to Istanbul. I remember our experience on this circuit last year – it was a unique race and while we can’t expect the low-grip conditions of 2020 to be repeated, we know we need to be ready for anything that might happen. The good team result in Sochi was a boost for all of us and we want to use it for this weekend“.