20/05/2022
NEWS STORY
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN returned to action on practice day for the Spanish Grand Prix, the sixth round of the 2022 season. The team had a productive first session with Valtteri Bottas and Robert Kubica, while in the afternoon there was plenty of mileage for Zhou Guanyu as Valtteri's session was cut short by a technical issue.
Valtteri Bottas: "Having tricky Fridays seems like it's a bit of a trend for us at the moment, we don't get much running but we managed to bounce back every time before and we can aim to do the same this time around. The positive from the day is that the one lap I had on medium tyres was really good, the car felt well-balanced so we have a good starting point to work on. Compared to February, when we had a lot of issues here, we have made a big step forward: we took a cautious approach with our upgrades but we pushed more and more towards the optimal set-up. For sure, we will be able to find out even more about the car tomorrow."
Zhou Guanyu: "It was a lot more fun today than during winter testing in February, that's for sure! Only one session for me today, so there's a big margin of improvement for tomorrow: I think I am still finding the limit of the car, as well as of myself, and I think that tonight we will be able to analyse all the data we collected today and come up with an even better set-up for tomorrow. I am confident for qualifying but, as always, it will be a matter of delivering a good, flawless day, if we want to get the most out of the weekend."
Robert Kubica: "All in all, it was a good session for me. I was pleased to see I could get on the pace quickly and that the feeling I had with the car was back to what I had in 2020. Of course, the session wasn't the easiest compared to when I drove the car in Imola: the conditions here are different and the track is green as opposed to fully rubbered in. Still, the car I drove in Imola was probably the best car I drove in my career in terms of feeling and simplicity of driving. I am looking forward to driving it again."