It’s not easy to accept a defeat after you’ve put in your everything. With every defeat comes a new set of learnings that must be incorporated to ensure success. The Bahrain track result was frustrating to Kimi Raikkonen and Alfa Romeo as they finished 11th, just missing out on points by a mere one position
Alfa Romeo was down in the dirt last season, being crippled by Ferrari and fighting to get out of Q1 in most of their races. They managed to improve their performance in the second half of the season by getting the better of Williams and Haas, but it was already too late. All they could manage was a lowly P8 in the Constructor’s battle.
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This year brought new hopes as Alfa Romeo saw both their cars reach Q2 by improving their speed and tire management system. Kimi Raikkonen was vocal about how he’s not happy with the tires as he had to slow down his pace to make them last longer.
Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Lotus celebrates on the podium after winning the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit on November 4, 2012 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (credits – Getty Images)
This made it extremely tough for him in his fight for the points as he was engaged in a fierce battle with Alpine and Aston Martin. Kimi Raikkonen said: “Against some guys, there was nothing I could do, the car was too slow. The car behaved nicely but to make the tires last long enough we need to slow down more than the others. In the end, we were not too far from the points, but still too far.”
Is the future bleak for Alfa Romeo and Kimi Raikkonen?
Being a veteran player of the sport, there’s no doubt that Kimi Raikkonen has what it takes to win matches and points. Alfa Romeo’s Giovinazzi outplayed Kimi in the qualifiers and had a promising start but finished behind his teammate in 12th place. Their prime opponents this season are AlphaTauri’s rookie, Tsunoda, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll as Kimi and Giovinazzi aim for the points.
Giovinazzi is however hopeful that this year will be better than the last one. After the match, he expressed his thoughts. “I think from my side, my first pit stop didn’t go well – we lost quite a lot of time – but to be honest our pace wasn’t enough to finish in the top 10. AlphaTauri was faster than us, so I think our potential was to be really close to the top ten but not enough to get inside.”
Alfa Romeo has certainly improved their car compared to the previous season. However, they still have a long way to go. With Kimi Raikkonen and Giovinazzi onboard and a faster car to serve them, Alfa Romeo will definitely contend for points.
