The Monaco Grand Prix as the culmination for Alfa Romeo?
With a car that perfectly suits the types of tracks like Monaco, Alfa Romeo can expect a good weekend in the principality.
Ninth in the constructors’ standings with just thirteen points in 2021, many were worried about Alfa Romeo in 2022. But like Ferrari or Haas, this new regulations marks a big step forward for the team, which has already earned 39 points in just six races.
The C42 is very well born and the car is fighting in the upper midfield, especially with a Valtteri Bottas found after his stint at Mercedes. With 38 points, the Finn is achieving excellent performances and sits in eighth place in the drivers’ standings. Unfortunate in the last two races, his teammate Guanyu Zhou, a rookie this season, still scored his first point in Formula 1 during his first race in Bahrain.
After a well-led Spanish Grand Prix by Valtteri Bottas, who brings back valuable points by finishing sixth, the upcoming weekend could go even better judging by the car’s performances. Very efficient in slow corners, Monaco could perfectly suit Frédéric Vasseur’s team.
“I think that next week, the track will suit our car perfectly,” said Bottas after the Spanish Grand Prix. “It mainly consists of slow turns and our car is really good in slow turns.”
Xevi Pujolar, the head of the team’s track engineering, doesn’t expect to play for the win. In terms of performance, I don’t expect anything magical for sure. We are strong in slow speeds, but the top teams are too. It’s not like we are much better than them, we are closer to them. We will probably have a better gap compared to the midfield, a little more margin. But I think for Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes, considering their performance in sector 3 [in Barcelona], they are still good.
Pujolar still admits that something is possible if race circumstances occur. « We were fighting for P4 [in Spain] and then we end up in P6, so why not be P4 or better again? Of course, we are trying. If someone makes a mistake, we will try to take advantage of it. But our number one priority is to ensure that both cars are fast because if we have Zhou well positioned too, we are a strong contender. »
There is a lot of anticipation surrounding Alfa Romeo for this Monaco Grand Prix. See you on Friday (not Thursday) for the first truths of the track.
