Alfa Romeo’s Frédéric Vasseur: “Execution needs to be flawless if we want to beat our rivals”

Frédéric Vasseur, the Team Principal of Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, says the team are going into the Miami Grand Prix weekend full of confidence after a strong start to their 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Valtteri Bottas has scored points in three of the opening four weekends to sit eighth in the Drivers’ Championship standings, while Zhou Guanyu has shown a lot of promise in the first races of his rookie season, although he only has a solitary point to his name to show for it.

Despite the impressive start, Vasseur says it is important Alfa Romeo do not take their foot off the gas, and he knows a minor swing in performance in any direction can see them fighting at the front or back of the midfield battle.

“We approach this race in a strong position and with a confident mood: we showed in Imola, where we fought for the highest positions, that our form from the beginning of the season was not a fluke,” said Vasseur

“We are actually improving with every round, and we are in a situation in which we can reap the rewards of our work, but we cannot get carried away. The whole field is still very compressed and a minor swing in performance, be it track-related or due to upgrades, can mean the balance can shift significantly.

“That’s why we have to keep working hard to extract everything from our package: we know we can score big in every race, but execution needs to be flawless if we want to beat our rivals.”

Vasseur is also delighted to see a second Grand Prix in the United States, with the Miami International Autodrome hosting its inaugural race this Sunday in what he is expecting to be a spectacular weekend.

“We are really happy to head to Miami for a new race in a brand-new venue,” he said.  “Formula 1 has got a global appeal and we can see how healthy the sport is just by judging the crowds we had at the races so far: to add another destination event like Miami is just going to boost the popularity of our sport even more and I am sure the whole weekend will be spectacular.”