Carlos Sainz #55
“The car felt quite good today and we did our best, but our pace just wasn’t quick enough this weekend to
hold on for the win. We ran a solid race from start to finish, with good pit stops and strategy calls, but it
wasn’t enough to keep the Red Bulls behind, as they simply had more pace.
Time to analyse and prepare the next week’s race at Zandvoort.”
Charles Leclerc #16
“We started well, then on lap 3 we unfortunately had a tear-off in the brake duct that meant I had to pit
when I was in P9. That set us back quite a bit. From that moment on, I knew that it was going to be a
difficult race.
The feeling in the car was quite ok, but compared to our competitors we were lacking pace. They made a
huge step leading up to this weekend and we have to work on closing the gap.”
Mattia Binotto, Team Principal & Managing Director
“Today’s race did not live up to our expectations. Red Bull has done a great job and the performance
difference between them and us this weekend, in terms of pace and also tyre degradation was clear to see.
Carlos drove a good race. Charles was unlucky in the very early stages and from then on he had even more
of a job on his hands. As a team, we just have to roll up our sleeves and continue to improve the
performance of our car. The next race at Zandvoort features a track with completely different characteristics
and we are ready to give it our best shot as always, aiming for the win.”
Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN went close to scoring points as Zhou Guanyu finished 14th, within seconds
of P10, at the Belgian Grand Prix. Birthday Boy, Valtteri Bottas, saw his race come to an early end as he
was collected by a spinning Latifi and spun into the gravel in the opening laps.
Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal
“The team did a good job, given the circumstances: unfortunately, that was not enough for a point today.
We knew that, taking power unit and gearbox penalties with both cars, we’d have a complicated weekend,
but we can take heart from the pace we showed. Both drivers had a good shot at the points: unfortunately,
Valtteri’s race was over immediately, and Zhou got stuck in Albon’s DRS train when in sight of the points.
These things happen, we’ll build on the pace and work hard to make sure we can maximise our results
already in Zandvoort.”
Valtteri Bottas #77 C42 (Chassis 01/Ferrari)
“We had pace today and, with such a mixed-up grid, there could have been opportunities to get a good
result, so it’s disappointing to finish my race so early. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the
wrong time: I saw Latifi spin towards the left, and all I could do was take evasive action to avoid a collision.
Unfortunately, I spun on the grass and ended up stuck in the gravel: I tried to go forward and back, but
couldn’t move. It’s not the birthday present I wanted, but hopefully I can still have some fun tonight, before
we turn our focus on next week.”
Zhou Guanyu #24 C42 (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
“Our pace was quite alright today, and despite starting from the back due to the penalty, the race has even
been quite exciting, with lots of action going on. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a Williams train towards
the end of the race: they were way fast in sector one, making them hard to pass, and eventually, in the last
four or five laps, I had no tyres left, so it was a bit difficult to keep up. In terms of results, we obviously
wanted more from today, but we sacrificed this weekend for the engine change; hopefully in the upcoming
ones we can start further up on the grid and score some good results.”
Start
At the start, Carlos keeps the lead, while Charles, promoted to 14th on the grid after Pierre Gasly’s
AlphaTauri starts from pit lane, crosses the line tenth before passing Lance Stroll on the Kemmel straight.
At the Les Combes chicane, Nicholas Latifi and Valtteri Bottas touch and the Safety Car is out.
Lap 4
A visor tear-off ends up in one of Charles’ brake ducts, so he has to pit to have it removed, going oout on
Medium tyres, rejoining 17th.
Lap 5
Leclerc passes Latifi.
Lap 8
Leclerc passes Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda to go up to P13.
Lap 9
Leclerc passes Kevin Magnussen to go 12th.
Lap 12
Carlos stops to go from. Soft to Medium tyres. He is sixth but soon moves up to fifth, passing Daniel
Ricciardo. Leclerc passes Lando Norris, moving up to ninth, partly due to other drivers pitting.
Lap 13
Ricciardo pits and Leclerc is seventh behind Stroll.
Lap 14
Sainz passes Sebastian for fourth, but is soon third when George Russell pits for tyres. Leclerc does the
same to Stroll to go fifth.
Lap 16
Perez pits, Carlos is second. The Mexican emerges ahead of Leclerc in third place.
Lap 17
Verstappen pits and Carlos is back in the lead, while Russell passes Leclerc.
Lap 19
Verstappen attacks Carlos to take the lead.
Lap 26
Carlos and Leclerc both pit, the former for Hards, the latter for Mediums. They are now fourth and seventh.
Lap 29
Leclerc passes Ocon to take sixth place, and with Russell pitting, Carlos is third again.
Lap 31
Leclerc passes Vettel for fifth.
Lap 43
Leclerc pits for Softs and emerges just ahead of Alonso, who then passes him. Leclerc gets back in front
but is unable to set the fastest lap and the race finishes with Verstappen winning ahead of Perez and
Carlos, with Leclerc fifth, but then demoted to sixth, because of a 5-second time penalty for speeding in the
pitlane at his last stop.
Pos R# Driver Team Chassis Time
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