The Alfa Romeo team is heading to the French Grand Prix with great confidence after back-to-back top-ten finishes in the last two outings in Monaco and Baku.
The team expects a more normal race weekend at the Circuit Paul Ricard after the last two outings at highly technical circuits and they believe this will “allow the team to unleash the performance of its cars to the fullest”.
Ahead of Free Practice on Friday, Team Principal, Frédéric Vasseur says they will absolutely be aiming for the points Sunday and promises to show the fans exactly what the team can do.
“We travel to France with the determination to continue our points-scoring streak for the third race in a row”, he said.
“We have finally started to see the results coming from all our good work and we know there is a lot more potential to come from the team, but we also know that putting together an issue-free weekend is crucial to achieve these objectives.
“The disrupted qualifying and eventful race in Baku somewhat masked the real pace of our car: hopefully France is where we really show all we can do.”
Speaking about the importance of a flawless weekend in France, Raikkonen believes the competition will be marginally close once again.
“Scoring a point last time out was obviously positive but there is still more that we want from ourselves and the car. It’s not going to be much different when we get to France: the midfield is going to be very close and it’s going to be a matter of getting everything right from Friday to Sunday.
“The gaps are so small and so is the difference between finishing in the top ten and just outside of it.”
Meanwhile, Antonio Giovinazzi is dying to get out on track and says the important thing is being extremely sharp in the midfield, and that speed alone won’t guarantee points.
“I can’t wait to be on track in France”, the Italian driver said.
“We know we have made some big improvements and all we need is a regular weekend to be able to display just what we can do: the track at Paul Ricard should allow us to have just one of those.
“It’s the first race of three in a row, which means we will go through an intense month of racing: scoring points will be a matter of being the sharpest of all in the midfield, not just the quickest.
“I am confident we can bring home a good result.”
