United States Grand Prix – Alfa Romeo comes back empty-handed again

Eliminated in Q1 for the ninth time this season (with Räikkönen only setting the 18th fastest time), the Alfa Romeo driver eventually started the United States Grand Prix from the fifteenth position due to penalties affecting some drivers placed higher on the grid. An excellent start (almost a carbon copy of his start on the same track two years earlier) combined with an overtake on seasoned veteran Esteban Ocon (still in the first lap) quickly positions him in 12th place.

After his first pit stop, Räikkönen overtakes Alonso (leaving some debris behind), Giovinazzi and Stroll. The Finn even misses a great opportunity to take ninth place from the young Yuki Tsunoda. Unfortunately for Räikkönen, a spin at the very end of the race eventually dashed his hopes of scoring points. “I had damage to the undertray following contact with Alonso’s Alpine,” he said to Sky Sports F1. “The car’s behavior didn’t really change, it wasn’t bad but the rear tires degraded faster. I did what I could but in the end, I had no more rear tires and lost control of the car. It’s a shame because in the first part of the race, the car was quite good but in the end, we get nothing out of it, it’s not like the other times.”

Giovinazzi, who finished just outside the points in eleventh position, also struggled with his tires. « I had some good battles, notably with Fernando, but I had a lot of trouble with all my sets of tires, only at the end where the pace was really good but Sebastian (Vettel) caught up with me on his new tires. Once again, we were not fast enough to score points but we are not far off ».

Alfa Romeo only has five more Grand Prix races to try to close the sixteen-point gap that separates it from Williams in the constructors’ world championship.