United States Grand Prix – Both Alfa Romeo drivers were disappointed after qualifying, having been knocked out in the first part of the session.
It means that it’s pretty much a continuation of Alfa’s recent bad form, with the team only scoring three points in total since the summer break. Having been completely off the boil in Russia, Japan and Mexico, Raikkonen gave the team some hope for optimism by placing in P8 in final practice on Saturday morning. However, come qualifying, Alfa couldn’t break out of Q1 and thus start from near the very back.
Raikkonen, whose most recent victory was at this event last year while he was still with Ferrari, said he made an error on his main flying lap and this ruined his chances of going through: “It’s a disappointment to be out in Q1 after a good morning session. I made a mistake braking into turn 12, locked a wheel and that cost me at least three tenths, which would have placed me four or five places higher and into Q2.”
“That was pretty much it after that – without the mistake, I would have easily made the cut. We’ll have a lot of work to do to get back into this but we are going to try our best.”
This meant that Antonio Giovinazzi was left to carry the torch for Alfa Romeo. But he was also to fall short of making it through into Q2, but outqualified his illustrious teammate once again by going a tenth quicker than the Finn.
“We were expecting a lot more today, especially after an FP3 session where we looked pretty good, but in the end I missed out on a place in Q2 for a very small margin, less than a tenth.” said Giovinazzi. “Starting where we are, the race will be difficult. We will need to understand how to maximise our race pace, believe in ourselves and see where that takes us.”
