周冠宇

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN endured a challenging day during qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix. Zhou Guanyu booked a place in Q2 before setting the 14th fastest time of the session; Valtteri Bottas's day ended earlier, as he was 16th in Q1. The focus now shifts to tomorrow's race around the tricky Zandvoort circuit.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal: "Today's result is roughly in line with what we were expecting after what has been, so far, a difficult weekend. We struggled to find the best balance for the car yesterday and, even though we made a step forward today, it was not enough to place a car in Q3. P14 and P16 on the grid are not the easiest places to start on this narrow and twisty track, but there's a long race ahead of us and we need to be ready to make the best of any opportunity. The start and the strategy will be key: we'll give everything we have and see what we can bring home."

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42 (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
FP3: 18th / 1:13.359 (15 laps)
Q1: 16th / 1:11.961 (9 laps)

"The feeling with the car wasn't too bad, but we're still lacking a bit of pace and grip to be higher up on the grid. We tried everything with the setup, but what we could find was not fast enough today. We expected this compound to be a one-lap tyre in qualifying, and that is what we have been focusing on with our run plan today. It's been quite a tough weekend so far, but there's still a race ahead of us. It's going to be a challenge, no doubt, but we will try our best and see what we can find."

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN C42 (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
FP3: 19th / 1:13.421 (14 laps)
Q1: 1:11.826 (9 laps)
Q2: 14th / 1:11.704 (6 laps)

"I think we made a decent step in qualifying today, especially considering the results in FP3 earlier today, as we were on the back foot and it looked like we could've been out in Q1. As predicted, it was super tight in the midfield, but I am fairly happy with where we qualified: I reckon we maximized everything we had, and this is why I wanted to thank the team over the radio. We are still struggling a little with the pace compared to some of the other teams, and we should start from that to give ourselves a better chance ahead of tomorrow. It will be hard to overtake on this track layout, but hopefully we can have some good action during the race."