Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN completed a successful day of practice for this weekend's Styrian Grand Prix, with Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi and reserve driver, Robert Kubica, behind the wheel in the two Friday sessions, while the team's C41 cars sported a tribute on their livery to celebrate yesterday's 111th anniversary of Alfa Romeo's founding.

On a day in which teams were able to make the most of the two hours of testing at the Spielberg track, the team appeared immediately at ease, with both sessions finishing with at least one Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN car within the top ten. Promising signs ahead of tomorrow's qualifying session, although the added challenge of finding a suitable space in traffic on the short Austrian circuit will be an added hoop to jump through.

The mood in the camp is, so far, positive: the engineers have plenty of data to work with tonight and the drivers are comfortable with the balance of the car. Tomorrow is another day, but preparations are going to plan.

Kimi Raikkonen: "I was able to do a good job in the afternoon session and the car didn't feel too bad: of course, you can always improve on it but that's what we need to work for ahead of tomorrow. Traffic is an issue around this short track and it made it quite tricky today: in qualifying, it will be important to pick the right time. We'll see what the weather does tomorrow: in any case, especially on such a short lap, we'll need to put all the corners together as every tiny mistake matters."

Antonio Giovinazzi: "It was a good Friday today, the car balance felt good from the first laps in FP1 so we have a good base to build on. We are happy with the day but we also know that tomorrow will be more difficult: we need to keep working tonight, find some speed in a few little details and hopefully have the same positive feeling when we head out in FP3. Putting a lap together here is a challenge, traffic and track limits will be key topics in qualifying: but if we get everything done, we can have a good Saturday too."

Robert Kubica: "It's always great to be back in an F1 car, although today hasn't been the smoothest day. I've been racing in other categories since I last drove the C41 in Barcelona and it's not easy to get a feeling when you only have a couple of laps to get up to speed. Still, I enjoyed the opportunity and hopefully brought the team some useful data. It's hard to compare how much the car has moved forward since I last drove it, as we are always testing different things in varying conditions, but the general feeling is positive: the team has been doing well lately and you can feel the confidence building. We know we can be in the fight if we do a good job, so we have to make the most of our package and of any opportunities."

Check out our Friday gallery from Spielberg, here.