“Rapid improvement needed” at Alfa Romeo · RaceFans

In brief

Alfa Romeo concerned about lack of pace

Alfa Romeo were a points-scoring threat through the first three grands prix of 2023, but were far off the pace in Baku last weekend. Their cars came 12th and 16th in the sprint race, while the grand prix proved even more challenging. Valtteri Bottas finished a lapped 18th while team mate Zhou Guanyu’s car was retired over engine reliability concerns.

Ahead of the Miami GP, Bottas said Alfa Romeo “need to make a rapid improvement in terms of performance.” Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Alfa Romeo’s team representative, admitted “there is no denying we are not where we expected to be at the start of the season.

“Right now, performance-wise, fighting for the top ten is tough,” he said. “Nevertheless, we must remain calm and not lose our focus on what we need to do: the season is still long, and we have the opportunity to turn the tide.”

Magnussen looking forward to challenge of Miami, his ‘home race’

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen considers this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix to be the nearest thing he has to a home race in Formula 1. The Dane drove for F1’s sole American team Haas from 2017 to 2020, then rejoined their race driver line-up last year.

“It’s the closest I get to a home race in a way because there isn’t a Danish Grand Prix and the closest I get is the team’s home race and I count that as ours,” he said. “Luckily we have three of those and hopefully we can do well at all three.”

Plans for a race in the Danish capital Copenhagen were presented in 2017 but never realised.

Magnussen said the inaugural race last year “was very hot and humid and also it’s a physical track. It’s not the most physical track in terms of the layout, but it is tough and with the weather on top it was so hard. I think it’s a tricky place to put a F1 track and they’ve managed to make something that’s fun.”

The track degraded in parts during last year’s race but has been extensively resurfaced for 2023. “The timing is very unique and last year it was being repaired over the weekend so it changed a lot during the weekend,” said Magnussen. “There were some big adaptations you had to make to your driving style for those repairs.

“Sector one is fun, it’s the fast part of the track – with the esses and tricky braking in turns seven and eight before the straight – but the most challenging part is the slower section under the bridge before the last long straight.”

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