周冠宇

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN battled the weather conditions to claim another Q3 as Zhou Guanyu set the 9th time in qualifying for the British Grand Prix. Team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, was in 12th position, giving both Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN drivers a good chance to place both cars in the points come tomorrow's race.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: "The conditions of the track were very challenging, as the intermittent rain made it really tricky to assess just where the limit was. Zhou delivered a very mature performance, despite this being just his second wet qualifying in F1, and made it to Q3 for the second time running. His P9 is a career best and he is in a great position to bring home points tomorrow. Valtteri had a slightly more complicated day: he looked good in Q1, but getting the tyres into temperature in Q2 proved difficult and he had to settle for P12. Still, we know how strong our car is in the race and we expect to make up some ground tomorrow, especially if it’s dry. The objective is to put both cars in the points once again."

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42 (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
FP3: 8th / 1:29.185 (20 laps)
Q1: 1:41.396 (11 laps)
Q2: 12th / 1:44.232 (9 laps)

"It's been a challenging day for me: conditions were tricky, changing all the time and it felt like every lap the track was a bit different. Q1 was good, but, once I got into Q2, with more water on track, I struggled to get enough temperature in the tyres. That was a bit of a downward spiral – I was sliding around and the car kept snapping, which made me lose even more temperature. Still, we are in P12 and the points are not too far away: we expect a dry race tomorrow, and I am confident we can make some gains. Our car is quite strong in the races, so we can put up a bit of a fight."

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)
FP3: 13th / 1:29.752 (17 laps)
Q1: 1:40.791 (11 laps)
Q2: 1:42.640 (9 laps)
Q3: 9th / 1:42.719 (8 laps)

"Qualifying was a challenge, but I would say I didn't do too bad for a rookie! It was my first time driving in F1 in Silverstone in the wet, the conditions were very different from yesterday but today has been good, I felt like I was progressing and improving my time lap after lap. It was particularly tricky out there between Q2 and Q3, when it was getting damp and there was a lot of standing water, but I managed to keep the car on track and reckon I was able to maximize everything I had today, so I can consider myself satisfied of the job done. It feels amazing to score two back-to-back Q3 appearances, I feel like I'm growing as a Formula 1 driver and I am really happy about that. I am looking forward to tomorrow, the track conditions should be dry, and I think we have the opportunity to score some points, which is always our main target. We have good potential, the grid will be super close, but I reckon we are looking good and both cars will be able to challenge for points tomorrow."