Formula 1: Alfa Romeo ready to bounce back at Canadian Grand Prix, put Baku failure behind them, says team boss
- Drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu both had disappointing days in Azerbaijan last weekend
- Team principal Frédéric Vasseur hails ‘real mettle’ of team ahead of race in Montreal
Alfa Romeo boss Frédéric Vasseur said his Formula 1 outfit had put their reliability issues behind them and were confident of bouncing back at the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.
Coming off a disappointing performance at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Valtteri Bottas complained about a lack of pace and Zhou Guanyu was forced to retire for the third time in four races, Vasseur said the team was determined to prove the result “was just an outlier”.
Calling Baku “a challenging weekend”, the Alfa Romeo team principal said everyone from Bottas and Guanyu down had responded to the adversity by showing their “real mettle”.
“Nobody, neither in the garage nor at home, let their heads drop: what you saw was an immediate reaction to bounce back from the disappointment,” Vasseur said. “We are determined to come to Canada to prove that last week’s result is just an outlier and I am confident we will do just that. We will aim for a clean weekend and to get back on track immediately.”
They are far from the only ones with car trouble heading into Montreal, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc needing to reboot his title challenge after a series of engine failures and strategic missteps.
Despite taking pole position at the last four times of asking, Leclerc has not won since Melbourne, six races ago.
World champion Max Verstappen, who led Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez home in a commanding one-two in Baku last Sunday, has five wins and 150 points. He leads Perez, who won in Monaco, on 129 and the luckless Leclerc, winner of the two other races this year, on 116.