2023 United States Grand Prix – Preview

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake hops over the Atlantic Ocean for the first of an exciting triple-header of races in the Americas, the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. Buoyed by a double-points finish in Qatar, the team heads Stateside full of confidence, with new upgrades and an undiminished hunger for points in its pursuit of P7 in the constructors’ championship.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative:  “We head to Texas with confidence, eager to keep up with the great performance showcased in Doha two weeks ago. The points we brought home boosted our morale and our motivation to work hard to meet our season targets. With a triple header approaching, it will be crucial to remain at the top of our game throughout all the races to maximise our potential. We have had a demonstration that, if we do our job right, we have a clear chance to score points in every remaining race, starting from Austin. This will be another Sprint event, so it will be important to make the most of the sole practice session and prepare to our best for the rest of the weekend. I am positive that, if each of us keeps up with the work done in Qatar, we’ll be able to extend our positive streak into this weekend and forward.”

Valtteri Bottas (Car 77): “It was great to get back into the points in Qatar, in particular doing so with the kind of race we had: all of us as a team, both trackside and back at base, needed that, and we’ll be ready to battle until the very last lap to try and move forward in the standings. I really enjoy being in the States, I come here quite often throughout the year, and I’m looking forward to the weekend ahead. Austin is always good fun; I like the track – I have also won from pole here in 2019. Besides getting twice the chances of scoring points again, having two Sprint weekends in a row means we know well what worked in Qatar, and how we can work on maximising our performance straight away. We know our car has the potential to do well, and the upgrades we have introduced over the past month are making a positive difference: we have new bits coming this weekend, too, and I am confident we can keep up with what we have shown two weeks ago and add more points to our name.”

Zhou Guanyu (Car 24): “The points we scored in Doha gave us great confidence and, of course, made us even hungrier: our championship target, seventh place, is just a handful of points in front of us, and we are ready to go for it. We had a really good race on Sunday in Qatar, with the right strategy, strong tyre management, and consistent pit stops as well – we have been able to deliver when it mattered the most, and we should aim to do it again. I have enjoyed racing in Austin last year, and I’m looking forward to this week. Everything is bigger in Texas and so is this Grand Prix: the enthusiasm of the fans on the grandstands is unmatched. We’ll aim to put up a good show for them, while we battle to make it into the top ten again.”