Saturday in a minor key for theAlfa Romeo, which on the Baku circuit failed to confirm the excellent performance shown in this start to the championship. In fact, neither of the two cars from Hinwil was able to overcome the cut in Q2 to enter the ‘magnificent ten’ who then played the first five rows. The negative surprise – for the first time this year – was above all Valtteri Bottas. The former Mercedes driver had difficulty passing the first trap of the day and in Q2 he did not go beyond the 15th position, being beaten by surprise even by his boxmate, the Chinese Zhou.
“Qualifying was a bit weird and we’re definitely not where we wanted to be – the Finnish driver honestly admitted – ltire temperature was a key factor this afternoon and I struggled to get the soft to work in the first thrust lap. In the second, the feeling was much better, but unfortunately the yellow flag at the end of Q2 prevented me from trying them. I think I could have improved, but it didn’t. However, our pace was good yesterday and we know that anything can happen in the race: there is everything to play, I am convinced that tomorrow we will be able to make some good overtakes and get back on the starting grid “.
Obviously, Zhou’s mood was much more positive, finally able to do better than his teammate in qualifying and above all hopeful in terms of the race: “We made a huge step forward over the course of the weekend – said the Chinese – And I think today we had a lot more potential than 14th position. A placement in Q3 would have been possible, even if the group is really close. We had prepared our tires for a good second round of thrust, because we saw that it is the moment when they give their best, but the yellow flag damaged both of our cars and prevented us from improving. Overall, I am happy with the progress we have made and I think we have a good pace for the race. We hope to be able to put it all together and bring home some points“.
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