Alfa Romeo is happy with sixth place in the final standings of this season’s Formula 1 Constructors’ Cup.
Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin have scored the same 55 points this season, but the better race position speaks in favor of the Swiss outfit. At Imola, Valtteri Bottas finished fifth, while the best result for Aston Martin drivers Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll was sixth.
In the last weekend in Abu Dhabi, Alfa Romeo was not fast enough for Aston Martin. The Sauber team, which races under the Alfa Romeo banner, has decided to sacrifice the result of the last race in order to maintain sixth place and collect 10-12 million dollars more.
Stroll was the first of four drivers to enter the pits. Alfa Romeo used Kuan-yu Chou to overtake Vettel with an early stop. Bottas stayed on the hard set even longer to be on track ahead of Stroll heading into the Canadian’s second stop.
Bottas explained after the race that his long “defensive” stint on the sturdier set of tires was used to “play with the green cars” and prevent them from progressing.
“In the end we didn’t have much speed today but my strategy was very defensive so I tried to be good towards the end of my first stint and when the green cars passed us we just wanted to play with them,” said Bottas, who ran his 200th F1 race in Abu Dhabi.
“He was too close for the points at the end but I’m glad we managed it. The difficult strategy was to wait for the Astons to stop, pass them and then make life difficult for them.”
According to Chou, the stops were planned so that the McLaren and Alpine drivers would have a clearer window into their stop and get back in front of the Aston Martins.
As Vettel pitted and began to work his way up the order, the Chinese driver engaged in tough defensive driving. This helped Vettel finish no better than tenth.
“The situation was pretty clear throughout the race. If we can’t beat them on track, we will sacrifice positions to allow McLaren and Alpine to fill this window,” explained Chou.
“That’s how it went today. I stopped earlier, even though the tires were still fresh, then Sebastian and Lance could have passed us with an early stop, then we basically tried to keep them on as much as possible to create a window for the others.
“I think it was important to achieve this. We really gave it our all today and I’m happy for the team. Considering where we were in qualifying, Valtteri had to try something really risky while I was just trying to hang on and see if we could change the what’s this.
“After the first lap we still had similar positions, it’s the best we could do. In the end it was very close, level on points, but I knew every little thing would make the difference. It’s really important for the team for next year” Chou added.
