“The team has made good progress with the C42,” Valtteri Bottas shows optimism despite spoiled testing


“The team has made good progress with the C42,” Valtteri Bottas shows optimism despite spoiled testing

Valtteri Bottas

The first round of pre-season testing has ended in Barcelona. The testing also became the sight for Alfa Romeo‘s 2022 F1 car, as the team is yet to hold an official launch for its 2022 livery.

Alfa Romeo is heading into the new season with a completely new lineup after they signed Valtteri Bottas from Mercedes and the rookie Guanyu Zhou. Whilst all the teams had their main drivers drive the car during the three-day testing, Alfa Romeo also had their reserve driver Robert Kubica in the new C42 on the first day, alongside the main driver Valtteri Bottas.

The team struggled with low mileage across the testing and managed to complete only 175 laps across three days, which was the second-lowest on the grid of 10. They also had to face major reliability issues, which looked worrying for the team.

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Valtteri Bottas’ hopes ahead of the Bahrain round of testing

Valtteri Bottas' Alfa Romeo's livery at Barcelona testing
Valtteri Bottas’ Alfa Romeo’s livery at Barcelona testing

The senior driver of the team in 2022 confidently said, “The team has made good progress with the C42, even though I wasn’t able to get all the running I would have liked. A few technical issues stopped us in the afternoon, but the data we collected during the morning session will allow us to keep working and developing the car.”

“Our focus switches to making the most of the time between now and the Bahrain test and maximizing our mileage when we get there. I am confident we can make up the time we lost and be fully ready for the season ahead,” concluded Valtteri Bottas, as quoted by GP Fans.

The rookie of the season and Bottas’ teammate also seems to be in line with these comments as he said, “It was a positive day, with quite a bit of running and some good indications until nearly the end of the session. I was able to run with the C3 compound, but unfortunately, a spin and a small hydraulic leak meant I couldn’t try the C4 tyres.”

Zhou added, “It’s only testing and we can’t really compare what we are doing against the other teams, but the feeling is that we are going in the right direction. The most important thing is to work together as a team to make sure we take a step forward ahead of testing in Bahrain.”

The Alfa Romeo team will now be looking forward to the launch of its 2022 livery. And then focus on the issues of the car before the Bahrain testing, as it’ll be the last chance before the Bahrain GP, scheduled a week after the testing.

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