Alfa Romeo haven’t exactly had the best time in Formula 1 in the last couple of years. The renamed Sauber team was fairly well rooted in F1’s midfield back in 2019, but the 2020 and 2021 seasons saw Alfa Romeo finish no higher than eight in the championship, and it finished 2021 ninth, ahead of only the Haas outfit. Things have certainly changed for the team as Formula 1 heads into its new era in 2022. A smart new livery on its C42 F1 car was just one of the changes ahead of this season.
Alfa Romeo has a whole new driver lineup. Antonio Giovinazzi was dropped in favor of China’s first F1 driver, Guanyu Zhou. Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 world champion, retired at the end of the 2021 season, and he was replaced by Valtteri Bottas, who in turn was replaced at Mercedes by George Russell. Robert Kubica stays on as the team's reserve driver. All teams are heading into the unknown with the new 2022 F1 cars, but Alfa Romeo, with their new team leader Bottas, will be looking to firmly rebuilt itself into a midfield runner once again.
A Tough 2020 And 2021
Alfa Romeo had a solid 2019 season. While it did only finish eight that season, it certainly had more highlights than it has done recently, with Raikkonen showing a great run of form for much of the year. Then in 2020, while the team did finish eight again, it was far from the improvement the team had hoped for. The team scored points in just four races, with only one of those results being a double point score, which came at the Portuguese Grand Prix. It scored just eight points in total, compared to the 57 of 2019.
Things didn’t exactly improve in 2021. Alfa Romeo believed it had a solid car, but while it did show flashes of pace, Raikkonen and Giovinazzi were only able to add five points to its 2020 tally, as the team finished last of the point scoring teams and saw the Williams outfit beat them to eight in the championship. Raikkonen and Giovinazzi both left the team, Raikkonen retiring, and Giovinazzi replaced by Zhou as the Italian headed off to Formula E. Team boss Frederic Vasseur saw the signing of Bottas as a key step to rebuilding the team, and thinks Zhou is a great fit for the outfit.
A Troubled Pre-Season Test
While there is still a pre-season test to come in Bahrain, the recent Barcelona test wasn’t exactly a good one for Alfa Romeo. In fact, the team was only ahead of Haas in mileage, as its C42 spent more time in the garage than it did on track. Bottas wasn’t able to get any meaningful mileage over the three days with just 54 laps in total, while Zho made up the rest of the team's 175 lap total, a number that a lot of teams were getting closer to in just a single day of the test.
Alfa Romeo seemed badly affected by the new cars porpoising phenomenon. Visually, this is when the cars are seen bouncing violently along the ground down the straights, as the cars lose downforce as they get close to the ground, then regain it once they are sprung back up, and so-on-and-so forth. This is a phenomenon of the new ground effect cars. As such, it's tricky to gauge a read as to how fast the C42 actually is, as the team battled to repair car damage and a multitude of mechanical issues. Hopefully the Bahrain test is a much smoother affair for team and drivers.
Shaking Off The Pay Driver Tag
Zhou might be the first Chinese driver to enter Formula 1, but that doesn’t seem to be the hot topic surrounding him. The former Alpine junior has taken five wins and three poles in three years in Formula 2 and finished third in 2021. However, fellow Alpine junior Oscar Piastri took six wins in his sole year in the series, plus five pole positions and the 2021 title. As Zhou has good backing from China, this saw many label Zhou simply as a pay driver, perhaps unfairly, although it was easy to see why many felt Piastri deserved the seat over Zhou. The Chinese driver will have to prove that he is more than just a pay driver and deserves to be alongside Bottas.
Looking For Consistent Top Ten Finishes
Bottas himself has said he hopes that he can help Alfa Romeo to at least score more consistent top ten finishes. He is secretly aiming high at Alfa Romeo, and dreams of taking a podium finish at some point in 2022. It's tricky to see how he might do that however, but the limiting factor will be car, not driver, as we know Bottas can win races. Zhou just needs to have a solid and consistent year, but it's tricky seeing him match the speed of his Finnish teammate. Either way, Alfa Romeo just need to do what Bottas said and score consistent top ten finishes. That’s it. If it manages that, it will be back on the right track, and maybe F1’s current Flying Finn will be able to bring more than just a single podium back to Alfa Romeo.
Sources: Alfa Romeo F1 Team, Formula Spy