15/03/2023
NEWS STORY
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake heads to Jeddah for the second round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. After a good showing in the season opener, the team will aim to continue its point-scoring streak on the street circuit snaking along the Jeddah Corniche.
Formula One is a sport on the move. The whole organisation made an art of the camping and decamping from one corner of the globe to the other, looking for a new destination, a new race, a new thrill: doing it in an efficient, effective and sustainable way is a science in itself.
It's not just cars, garages and equipment that are needed across the world, but everything from kitchen appliances, plates and cutlery to crates of notebooks, teddy bears and other team items for guests and fans. The logistical feats required to make this show happen are as much an impressive watch as that given by the cars on track; and the men and women making it happen are some of the unsung heroes of this sport.
Not unlike a travelling circus, Formula One is a massive family that moves from one place to the other: sometimes different, often similar, always interesting. And so, this week our team moves from one kingdom - Bahrain - to another, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (to give its official name). It's not just physically, however, that Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake finds itself between two realms. For there is more than the word "realm" implies - meanings that go beyond crowned heads and dynasties in old Europe or the Middle East.
The team itself is a combination of two realms, as its two souls - one fixed in place, one forever moving - coexist in a self-reaffirming capacity: the race team, travelling from one event to the other, and the home team, enabling everything we do from our Hinwil HQ. Both realms depend on each other; nether would exist without the other; both spur each other on, creating a virtuous cycle of motivation. Home and away are expressions of the same idea: two realities, one team.
Two realms, one anchored in the real world, one soaring in the virtual, are also where the team lives when racing. Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake is no longer just made of people, cars and equipment, tangible expressions of its existence: it is branching out in the virtual, reaching out to new audiences and providing new ways to access it. In the Jeddah paddock, the team will debut a new experience in the metaverse, where it is creating a hyper-realistic platform alongside its partner, Everdome. In the fan zone, it will reach out to its supporters through an innovative Augmented Reality activation with Sensetime. It will be a way for the team to get closer to fans near and far, exploring new spaces and new ways to interact - pushing the boundaries into a new reality, just as we never stop developing our cars back at base.
As we prepare for round two of the season, we go from one realm to the other - but look closer, and you'll see we do so in more ways than one.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "Scoring points on debut was a great way to kick-off our season, a reward for the hard work done by everyone in the team over the winter and a confirmation of the progress we have made. We must not rest on our laurels though, as we had proof in Bahrain of how tight the field around us is this year, and how just a few tenths can make a huge difference in terms of results. We know that, if we do our homework right and take advantage of the full potential of our car, we have the chance to keep improving and achieve even better results, and this is what we set out to do this weekend: we need to be on top of our game when it comes to execution as we have the opportunity to bring home more points. It will be an important weekend also outside the garage, as we have a busy programme of activations with some of our key partners: we are leaving no stone unturned both on and off the track."
Valtteri Bottas: "We have been off to a great start in Bahrain, scoring a top-ten finish at the first race of the season. We were among the top five teams for the entirety of the race, and also gave proof of excellent teamwork throughout the weekend. Still, as always, there is room for improvement. Coming into Jeddah, we must keep up the momentum and put the focus on continuing the good work done until now. Our colleagues back home in Hinwil are working hard on getting upgrades ready for the next few races, as we focus on progressing and on bringing home more good results for the team. Our car is strong, and we know we can put up a decent fight against our competitors. Once again, attention to details will be essential to be on the front foot from the start of the weekend."
Zhou Guanyu: "Starting the season with points was a good motivation for the team, myself included - I was happy to give my contribution by scoring the fastest lap and taking a point off our rivals. As we go to Saudi Arabia for the second round of the championship, I feel hungry and determined to open up my points tally for the season as well. In Bahrain, our car felt better day after day, which showed we are heading in the right direction: we must keep finding the margins to keep our progression going and improve even more. We can already predict the field is going to be tight once again, but if we manage to extract all possible performance from our car and team, I see no reason why we shouldn't aim even higher this weekend."