Mid-season review: Alfa Romeo, between hope and disappointment
What to remember from the first part of the season of the Alfa Romeo team? A new season following the previous one. The team struggles to achieve results and even finds themselves behind Williams.
Difficult to do worse than Haas F1 Team. Yet, Alfa Romeo is not far behind. The Italian team is struggling to prove itself. At the back of the grid, the team is continuing from last year – eight points in the 2020 constructor standings. And even though the new car is equipped with the new Ferrari engine and the Sauber wind tunnel, the expected results are clearly not there. Blame it on a few strategy errors and avoidable penalties. In terms of points, the team is three points in the constructor standings. For this season, Alfa Romeo has decided to keep its duo of young Antonio Giovinazzi and the experienced Kimi Räikkönen.
Hope…
Struggling since the start of the season, the team still managed to achieve some miracles. Its two drivers regularly make it to Q2. Alfa Romeo has had at least one car in Q2 in every race except for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Italy. Performances that were rarely seen last year. The drivers had then posted the second-to-last and last times in qualifying eleven times out of seventeen races. This clearly shows an evolution. It was hard to do worse anyway, especially with the old Ferrari engine.
In the consistency of his 2020 results, Antonio Giovinazzi showed a clear improvement. Last year, he was on par with his teammate in terms of points (4 points). Apart from the car, he has everything to shine. Moreover, he took part in Q3, earning him a tenth place on the starting grid in Monaco. Results matching his potential.
At 41, Räikkönen is competing in his 19th F1 season. It is hard to believe that he is having fun behind the wheel of his Alfa Romeo, however he is achieving feats in races. He struggles against his teammate, often being behind him in qualifications. His experience allows him to take the lead in races. The record holder for the number of races (341) will undoubtedly want to finish in style what is likely to be his last season.
And disappointment
If Alfa Romeo does well in qualifying, it struggles during the races. With only three points after eleven Grand Prix races, the results are disappointing. In addition to strategy errors, the two drivers are too often penalized. In Hungary, the team lost everything. Kimi Räikkönen was given a ten-second penalty for hitting Mazepin on the pit lane. The other penalty given to Antonio Giovinazzi was for speeding in the pit lane. Two penalties that could have been easily avoided for the team. With this result, they lost their eighth place in the constructors’ championship to Williams (who scored ten points in this Grand Prix). Xevi Pujolar, however, remains optimistic for the rest of the season.
« It won’t be easy, but I think it’s possible and we will try. The points difference (with Williams, editor’s note) is not huge and we still have a lot of races to go, so I think we can make it. »
The teammates’ match.
In this first half of the season, youth makes the difference. Giovinazzi wins the qualifying battle. With eight Q2 and an incredible Q3 in Monaco, the Italian easily dominates (9-4). On the other hand, the advantage is for Kimi in the races. The Finnish driver has collected two points compared to one point for Giovinazzi in the drivers’ standings. He also finishes ahead of him, albeit by a small margin at the end of the Grand Prix (6-5).
Accrochage pour Räikkönen (Alfa Romeo) ! Le Finlandais est OUT, il a perdu son aileron avant après un contact avec son coéquipier Giovinazzi !
▶️ https://t.co/7plkVVV12v pic.twitter.com/T5kD1Uh3xn
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) May 2, 2021
Only Räikkönen has retired so far at Alfa Romeo. It was at the Portuguese Grand Prix for a collision with… his teammate. The former Ferrari driver misjudged his trajectory and hit the left rear wheel of the Italian. Front wing destroyed, Kimi immediately stopped his race.
If the team does not have to worry about the Haas, its battle in the constructors’ standings is against Williams. Making too many avoidable mistakes during races, the team is losing valuable points. However, they are not lacking much to collect some. We have often seen the two drivers finish one or two places away from the top 10.
