Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN heads to the second race of the late summer triple-header, the Dutch Grand Prix.
Zandvoort played host to a memorable race last year and the team is confident it will make the most of its performance on the twisting and banked corners set in the picturesque dunescape of Noord-Holland.
The world Holland is meant to come from the Old Dutch “holtlant”, a wooded land: there may not be much in terms of forestry in the vicinity of Zandvoort, but the team will aim to come metaphorically out of the woods there, as we target a return to the points just before our home race in Italy. Recent performances have been promising, but marred by bad luck or adverse circumstances, but fortunes will change and doing so in front of one of the most passionate crowds on the calendar would be perfect timing.
The Dutch really know how to make a sport event colourful: most of the fans may be there to support their local hero, and the stands are expected to feature a sea of orange. But within this tangerine wave, there’s a red heart beating: that of our team as we look forward to giving 100% in search for points.
Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal: “Closed the Spa chapter, it is time to head back to the track again this week in Zandvoort for the second part of this triple-header. Last year’s Dutch Grand Prix was one of the best events I’ve seen, the organizers put up an incredible show and I’m really looking forward to the same feeling this year.We knew Belgium would be a difficult weekend when we elected to take those power unit and gearbox penalties, and yet we looked at realistically bringing home points: the pace we showed on track is definitely a positive on which we must build.Qualifying is increasingly becoming a defining session for the whole weekend in this tight midfield: if we start in a good position, we have the speed to stay there . We have to make sure we are at the top of our performances, to get the most out of the weekend and place ourselves back where we belong: in the top ten at the checkered flag.”
Valtteri Bottas: “A new race week gives us the opportunity to recover straight away from an unfortunate weekend in Spa. I enjoyed racing in Zandvoort last year, where I also finished on the podium. It was disappointing to end last weekend’s race after only two laps, as the pace we went on showing with Zhou was good and I was confident we could have done well: with that pace as our starting point, we have the opportunity to build a strong performance for the weekend ahead, coming back with some points . The fans here are of course very passionate, so we will make sure to put up a good show for them.”
Zhou Guanyu: “We clearly wanted more from the weekend in Spa, but we were aware that taking penalties and starting from the back meant it would be a tall order to finish in the points. Despite that, our pace on track was promising, so hopefully we can keep up with it in Zandvoort.The track will be relatively new to me: I previously raced here in F3 a few years ago, so it will be important to adapt to it in a Formula 1 car as quickly as possible, to qualify in a good place on the grid and get ourselves in the mix during the race to score some points. We know we can do it but it will be a matter of executing our weekend right from start to finish.”
