周冠宇

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN completed a challenging first day of practice at the Monaco Grand Prix. Zhou Guanyu had his first taste of the Monte-Carlo circuit in an F1 car and was able to make good mileage, while Valtteri Bottas missed out on the first session with a power unit issue but was able to recover in the final hour of action to help the team prepare for tomorrow's qualifying session.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42 (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
FP1: 20th / No time (2 laps)
FP2: 14th / 1:14.468 (28 laps)

"Not an ideal Friday, but we had a good recovery in FP2. We lost the first session with a power unit failure that took two hours to fix, which is a shame as this really is a track where you need every possible lap to get fully comfortable: you don't get to do too many clean laps either, with all the traffic, to prepare for qualifying, so it will be crucial to have a good FP3. FP2 was effectively my first session of the weekend, so I took it step by step. I know there is a lot of performance still to find, both in myself and with the setup, and I still think we have the potential to be in the top ten tomorrow. The car felt ok and I know we can be in the mix for Q3."

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)
FP1: 17th / 1:16.417 (27 laps)
FP2: 15th / 1:14.525 (23 laps)

"My first day in Monaco was tough but I really enjoyed driving here. You can really feel the speed around these streets: you have to commit fully, leave nothing behind and kiss the walls if you want to get a good time. It's not easy, it's a big challenge and I am still building up to it, but it was fun. We ended up the day with a decent amount of laps, which is especially important as Valtteri missed FP1. I think we have all it takes to make another step forward tonight and come back ready for qualifying."