周冠宇

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN made steady progress in the Sprint to set the grid for tomorrow's Brazilian Grand Prix. Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas were in overtaking mood as they made the most of their C42s' pace and eventually crossed the finish line in P13 and P14 respectively.

Tomorrow's race will see the team aiming to keep its progression going and bring home the cars in the points as we continue the battle to secure sixth place in the constructors' championship.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: "Both cars made some good progress from the back and we showed some good pace, which leaves us confident ahead of tomorrow's race. It will be a long one but we've seen today that there can be plenty of action, and if we can replicate the performance we had today, we should be well in the mix for points. It will be important to have a clean start and make sure we keep out of trouble in the opening stages, but the potential is there for a good result."

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)
FP2: 15th / 1:16.047 (34 laps)
Sprint: 14th
Fastest lap: 1:15.980 (Lap 8)
Tyres: New Soft (24 laps)

"I gave everything I had in the sprint and we'll be starting tomorrow in a much better place than we were today. I lost a couple of positions at the start, but I had good momentum after that and our pace looked ok. We were able to make up places and keep making progress until the end of the race. The longer the stint went, the better our pace became, and this gives me confidence about tomorrow: the objective is to make it into the top ten and I think it's a wholly realistic one. We had better pace than the cars around us today, so let’s bring home some points tomorrow."

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42 (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
FP2: 19th / 1:16.468 (37 laps)
Sprint: 13th
Fastest lap: 1:15.765 (Lap 7)
Tyres: New Soft (24 laps)

"Our pace was actually quite good today, and we can be satisfied to gain a few positions back and a better place on the grid ahead of tomorrow. At first, I thought this would be a difficult afternoon as I didn't have an easy opening lap – I lost a few positions after being boxed in and I also went wide in turn five. I feared we were just going to remain there for most of the race, but we were fairly quick and could overtake quite a few cars on our way to P13. The car felt good, so if we work on our lap one performance and keep our position at the start, we will have a very good chance to be fighting for the top ten tomorrow."