Alfa Romeo’s ambitious plans can attract top F1 drivers

Both Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi have Alfa Romeo deals until the end of the current season and the Finn is believed not to be signed for next year as the Italian squad target Valtteri Bottas should he not be from Mercedes be taken over.

Vasseur said earlier this year the team are not ruling out replacing both Raikkonen and Giovinazzi but insisted “everything is open”.

Alfa has expanded its relationship with Sauber in what Vasseur calls a “long-term partnership” that underscores the brand’s desire to be successful in sport.

“I think we are in a good position because we are ambitious,” Vasseur told Motorsport.com. “We’re increasing in terms of partners, sponsors, and so on. The portfolio grows.

“The partnership with Alfa is solid and a long-term partnership. Ferrari is doing a good job, they are improving on their side too … and we are improving the chassis.

“I’ve got a lot of green light and I want to be very positive. Now I have to do my job to convince them.”

Vasseur believes it will be important to be honest about Alfa’s prospects for the coming seasons with potential hires to avoid false expectations, especially when there is a high profile driver.

“If you have a project together and you are very clear about it, then [you] say ‘people, I don’t want to berate you, we won’t be able to win in 2022, not even in 2023, but we want to make at least two or three places a year and improve,’ “he said.

“That message got through to Kimi. When Kimi joined in ’19, he had previously won two races with Ferrari, he won at Austin and then he came back and at that point we were in a difficult position. 2017 was a lot hard.” I think he understood the challenge and the project.

“You have to be very clear and transparent with them: ‘Okay, guys, we won’t be able to win, but the goal if we’re P8 is P6 and then P4’. [It’s better] than saying ‘OK, don’t worry, we’ll win next year’. If you do this, you will create the frustration. “

Also read:

While the team has yet to decide on his 2022 line-up, Vasseur acknowledged that Giovinazzi has taken a step forward this year, particularly in qualifying trim, but believes the Italian still needs to work on his racing performances.

“Antonio does a very good job in qualifying, Kimi is probably a bit tougher there. And it’s the other way around in the race. And very often he compensates for the deficit on Antonio in the first laps.

“I would say if you want to talk about Antonio he has certainly improved in qualifying. He has a much better understanding of the car’s performance. And if he has to improve, it is probably at the start of the race.” , the management of the race, the management of the tires. But he knows the situation perfectly. “