“It was a disaster, but we just have to do better. And we have to make the car faster – it’s that simple. “
That was Kimi Raikkonen’s brief summary of his Grand Prix weekend in Hungary and could be used to explain the entire season for Alfa Romeo. Raikkonen has not yet scored a point and another result outside the top 10 would be the worst start for one of his 18 campaigns in Formula 1. Antonio Giovinazzi snuck into the points in Austria, but supposedly owed the high rate of wear and tear. Alfa Romeo has taken three consecutive Q1s and the C39 was the slowest car in each qualifying.
But delve deeper into the situation and this is more than Alfa Romeo, which is off to a sluggish start to the campaign. Progress through 2018 was strong and towards the end of the season he was occasionally the fastest midfielder in F1 after starting the year as a backmarker.
After its strong development and progress through 2018, in which Charles Leclerc starred, Alfa Romeo launched 2019 in a similarly brilliant way. When the almost rookie Giovinazzi got up to speed, the more experienced Raikkonen used his persistence to collect more points. But as the midfield teams developed, Alfa Romeo began to pull out. Alfa Romeo scored points in just one of the last six 2019 Grand Prix races – an impressive fourth and fifth in the madness of Brazil – and ended the year escaping the first quarter rather than challenging the third quarter. Take out that anomalous Brazilian madness and Alfa Romeo has only scored five points (all via Giovinazzi) in the last 11 Grand Prix. In the same period of the first half of 2019, 32 points were achieved. It has been chased after the shadows by up-and-coming teams and has fallen behind Williams in one lap.
The one-lap pace was particularly worrying. It has become the slowest team in the last three races. Allegedly his situation was made worse by Ferrari’s engine failure and there are two drivers who are stronger on Sundays than on Saturdays.
“In qualifying it was one lap worse than expected, but I think it’s an area we are working on to improve,” said Xevi Pujolar, Head of Trackside Engineering at Alfa Romeo.
“In the race the pace was better and we were able to fight with the midfield. Yes, that is an area that we expected more in qualifying and that we are working on.”
Alfa Romeo has caught up in racing equipment under normal circumstances. Alfa Romeo’s starting positions so far this year have been P16, P18, P19, P19, P19 and P20. From there, points will always be a long shot.
“If you look at the data, it is very clear that the car was more competitive than our target positions would suggest,” said team principal Frederic Vasseur in Hungary. “We had the pace to challenge our direct rivals and some faster cars, but starting from the back we were always at a disadvantage. Both cars had good pace and with a little luck we could have taken a point or two home. With a better qualifying we would have been in the middle of the battle for points. “
There were extenuating circumstances. A cross-threaded wheel nut in Austria impaled Raikkonen, as did his misalignment penalty in Hungary, while Giovinazzi was strategically compromised last time when he went up against Softs rather than Mediums. But the slow Saturdays are crucial for Sundays.
“We just have to push really hard and get the most out of the car,” said Giovinazzi in Hungary, repeating a worn out flatness.
Given the shortened season, the C39’s slow pace in one lap and the lack of venues where a surprise is more likely, Giovinazzi’s Austrian points are already crucial in the fight to avoid the F1’s wooden spoon.
