Alfa Romeo arrived in Australia looking to continue its strong start to the season after seeing Valtteri Bottas finish sixth in Bahrain and reach Q3 in Saudi Arabia before retiring from the race.
Teammate Zhou Guanyu also scored a point on his F1 debut in Bahrain, giving the team its first double-points finish since Imola 2020.
But neither driver made it through to Q3 in Australia on Saturday, bringing to an end a 103-race streak of top-10 qualifying results for Bottas. The Finn said a decision to run a smaller rear wing after the fourth DRS zone was removed was likely to blame for missing out.
Bottas was left struggling behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at one stage in the race, but was able to grab eighth place, while Zhou narrowly missed out on points by finishing 11th.
Vasseur felt the team’s pace had been in line with its performances from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and that Q2 was the only setback it faced.
“It was a step back in quali, I think we fucked up the Q2,” Vasseur…
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