The Switzerland based team of Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN are looking forward to this year’s 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a 1 year hiatus due to COVID-19.
With Monaco behind them including the first Q3 of the season and a top 10 finish the team with drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi are demonstrating the team’s relentless progress to fight for places in the upper half of the field both on Saturday and Sunday and want to continue the fun as they head to Baku.
Fredric Vasseur, Team Principal, said leading up to the Baku race “We approach the next race full of confidence in our team, our car and our chances. Breaking our duck and scoring a point in Monaco has been important, mostly from the psychological side, as we finally had a weekend where bad luck didn’t hamper our progression. We still feel a bit of disappointment as we know we could have finished even higher up the road, but this just shows how much potential we still have. We come to Baku ready to continue placing our cars in Q2 and beyond, have another good race and hopefully bring home another strong result.”
A circuit like the one in Baku should allow for all the overtaking that doesn’t happen in Monaco: opportunities to pass are definitely available around the 6 km track, in particular on and at the end of the endless final straight. As always, the battle with the close in the midfield, but the team says they are ready to show all they can do: fighting in the streets has never been this appealing.
Elder statesman of the F1 field Kimi Raikkonen had this to say about the upcoming race “It’s nice to see the team getting stronger with each race and I hope this weekend can be a good one for us. Races in Baku can be very chaotic and it’s always a good chance to get a good result if we do our job properly. We know what we have to do – get the most from every session, from Friday to Sunday: we have shown we can battle with everyone in the midfield so let’s see how it goes.”
Meanwhile Antonio Giovinazzi who has flown under the radar mainly reflected on his time in GP2 and his first Q3 back in 2019 “Baku is one of my favourite tracks to race on, I love it. I have some very good memories here from my time in GP2 and I had a strong Saturday when I first came here in F1, in 2019. I had my first Q3 on that day and I would love a repeat performance this weekend. Getting a point on the board last time out in Monaco was a good result, even more so when we think about how strong we looked. We are confident we can carry over this form here and continue to reap the results of the progression we have made.”
