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Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur believes that the prize money earned for sixth place in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship will make a “big difference” for the Swiss team.
The Hinwil outfit secured sixth place in the constructors’ standings. The Swiss team finished equal on points with Aston Martin – the Silverstone team scored five points in Abu Dhabi.
However, the Sauber group clinched onto their sixth place, despite a lacklustre second half to the season. Valtteri Bottas’ excellent fifth place finish in Imola meant that Alfa Romeo had a better result than Aston Martin. The Silverstone team’s best finish was Sebastian Vettel’s sixth place finish in Baku.
Each position of the constructors’ champion is believed to have an estimated $10-12m of extra prize money. Every bit of prize money could help a team, allowing them to utilise the full cost cap limit.
Morale is high at Alfa Romeo
The Swiss team were ecstatic after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The team managed to clinch sixth place, mainly scoring all of the points in the first half of the season.
Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur said it was “the best way” to have a “good winter” as “everyone will be in a positive mood” when speaking to Motorsport.com.
“On top of this it’s always crucial I think to have this kind of fight for us with Aston Martin – in terms of target it’s a good one. And for sure it will be also very helpful on the financial side.
“As we are below the cost cap, every single push will be a big difference. We will see next year, but for sure it will help.
“I know that some teams said that with $2m you can do nothing, but with $10m we will be able to do a lot!”
Vasseur praises the strategy in Abu Dhabi
The Frenchman believed that the team did a great job on strategy in Abu Dhabi. Alfa Romeo duo Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were tasked with holding both of the Aston Martins up as much as possible.
Their strategy was just about good enough. Lance Stroll ended the race in eighth, as Sebastian Vettel ended his final Formula 1 race in 10th. The German was close to overtaking Daniel Ricciardo for ninth, which would have secured Aston Martin sixth. However, the four-time world champion ran out of time.
Vasseur said that the qualifying result was a big factor in the Swiss team’s strategy choice:
“If we had a better quali I think we’d have a fight on our own to score points.”
However, Bottas was knocked out in Q1, qualifying 18th and Zhou qualified in 15th. Their rivals Aston Martin had Stroll in 14th and Vettel in the points in ninth.
“But with the quali we had we had no other option but to try to control a little bit the situation with the strategy, and we did it well.
“They both played a lot the team side, and they did a great job on managing the situation with Vettel and Stroll. And for sure we can thank them at the end when we see that Vettel is fighting with Ricciardo.”
Hamilton retirement caused nervousness within the team
Lewis Hamilton retired late from the race with a hydraulic problem – the first Mercedes retirement of the season. The retirement helped Aston Martin thoroughly as Vettel only needed to overtake Ricciardo to claim sixth in the championship.
However, the Australian held on, making Vasseur his biggest fan:
“It was more than tight! I was quite relaxed on the pit wall until the issue for Lewis. And they both improved by one position, and it became a bit more tricky.
“And the last couple of laps, I was the biggest fan of Daniel! For sure if Vettel was able to overtake Daniel it would have been another story.”
Feature Image Credit: Peter J Fox via Getty Images
