Formula 1: Alfa Romeo boss Frédéric Vasseur hails ‘incredible’ season
- Alfa Romeo closed out their best F1 season in a decade in Abu Dhabi and team principal Frédéric Vasseur was all praise for his drivers
- ‘I am proud of what we have achieved,’ he says. ‘But this is just another starting point on which we want to build’
Alfa Romeo celebrated their best Formula One season in a decade after a nail-biting finish to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and team principal Frédéric Vasseur hailed it the “crowning of an incredible job”.
While world champion Max Verstappen was cruising to a record-extending 15th win of the season on Sunday, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas were battling to secure sixth position in the constructors’ championship.
But having only managed to start 15th and 18th on the grid respectively, the Alfa pair had to sacrifice any ideas of finishing in the top 10 to ensure Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who qualified in ninth, and his teammate Lance Stroll did not do enough to wipe out the five points separating the two teams at the start of the day.
In the end, they did just enough, with Stroll’s four points for eighth and Vettel’s single point for coming 10th in his final race before retirement leaving the two teams level on 55 points for the year.
As such, Bottas’ fifth place in Italy earlier this season, the best finish of all four drivers, gave Alfa the coveted spot on count back, and an extra US$10-US$12 million for development.
“Finishing in P6 in the championship surpasses our expectations and the targets we had set at the beginning of the season, so we can thoroughly say that this season was a success,” Vasseur said.