Frederic Vaseur glad to see his Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN Team scores four points on Sunday Russian Grand Prix, only the fourth top ten placement for the outfit in 2021.
Kimi Raikkonen achieved the best placement of the team of the year so far with an eighth place Sochi Autodrome to bring Alfa Romeo’s points tally to seven for the season. They remain ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with seven races remaining.
Vasseur, the team principal of the Hinwal-based team, felt the team timed Raikkonen into the pits when it started to rain towards the end of the race and it put the experienced Finn in the points.
However, he was disappointed Antonio Giovinazzi was unable to take home a top ten finish in the second C41 Ferrari as the Italian struggled throughout the race without using his radio.
“The race was very exciting and we’re going home with a good haul of points,” said Vasseur. “Despite a difficult Saturday, we went into the race with a bit of optimism, knowing we would be able to fight.
“Kimi got off to a good start to jump into P10 while Antonio got hit and had to recover from behind. He’s been in some good fights and made some nice overtakes – even more so not having a radio. Kimi was able to stay with Ocon for most of the race, just outside the points, and when the rain came we made the right decision to stop for stops.
“He made up ground and finished eighth, four good points for the team. It’s a good result, a reward for our work so far and a confidence boost for the next race in Turkey in two weeks time.”
