周冠宇

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake had its first taste of action on the streets of Monte Carlo as the team completed two busy sessions of practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu had a productive day on track, getting to grips with the rapidly evolving circuit and growing their confidence with every lap.

FP2 saw the debut of the upgrade package produced by the team back in Hinwil, and the good mileage obtained in the session provided the engineers with the data necessary to evaluate the new parts ahead of tomorrow's important qualifying session.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake C43 (Chassis 02/Ferrari)
FP1: 11th / 1:14.718 (29 laps)
FP2: 8th / 1:13.050 (33 laps)

"It was a good, productive day and it was what we needed to finally test our new upgrades. I could feel a difference already, a positive one, even though we will have to do some work to refine the package and extract the most from it. It's a promising sign, though, especially since the field is so tight and a small improvement can make a big difference. Overall, it was an interesting day: the track kept improving with every lap and, as always in Monaco, so did my confidence. Traffic is always an issue here but today we were able to navigate through it well. Now we need to focus on qualifying: the feeling is positive, if we can improve a little bit more overnight, we can be there or thereabout."

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake C43 (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
FP1: 19th / 1:15.684 (25 laps)
FP2: 13th / 1:13.354 (32 laps)

"In general, a promising day for us. FP1 wasn't the smoothest session and it was difficult to find a rhythm, but the later session was a step up for us. The first impressions from the upgrade package are positive, although it's still early days, and I feel there is still a bit of margin, both for myself and the car, to further improve to be ready for tomorrow. We seem to be able to carry on from where we left off in Miami, and I'm looking forward to qualifying. We also looked solid in the long runs, so if we manage to translate today's work into a good qualifying position, we can fight for the points. Tomorrow will be tricky – it always is here – but we can be in the mix for a good result."