18/11/2022
NEWS STORY
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN had a productive day of practice at the Yas Marina circuit as the team kicked off preparations for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. On the final Friday of championship action, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu and Robert Kubica piled on the laps to provide our engineers trackside and at our Hinwil HQ with the data to mount the most effective qualifying charge tomorrow.
Valtteri Bottas: "We had a good start of the weekend: a smooth day without issues, in which we could do all the laps and all the tests we had planned. The car balance felt good from the start, so we didn't have to do big changes: we just focused on fine-tuning the car, especially in the second session as conditions were a lot closer to what we'll have in qualifying tomorrow. I finished both sessions in the top ten, which is definitely a promising start: on the back of the last couple of races, where we were quite strong, it's a good sign and hopefully we can keep this momentum going."
Zhou Guanyu: "I am quite pleased with the day: FP2 was my first time on track here with the C42, and the car felt good right away, so it didn't take me more than a couple of laps to find the rhythm on track. I felt quite comfortable in the short runs, and we also did a few long runs to identify any areas to tweak ahead of tomorrow. I am confident about our qualifying pace, and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't get the best out of the car and place ourselves in a good position on the grid. The upgrades we have introduced in the last few rounds keep making our car better, so I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Robert Kubica: "It's always nice to drive this car and I'm very pleased about my performance, especially as the last time I was in the C42 was back in Hungary. I was driving LMP2 cars last week and there's always some getting used to with a different car, but it all went surprisingly well, especially with the hard tyres. In the end, in an FP1 you only have a single lap to nail it, that's the challenge of this session. I had a good feeling with the car, and we figured out quickly where to improve. It was a productive day and it gives us confidence for the rest of the weekend."
Check out our Friday gallery from Yas Marina here.