Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur claims that they will be close to the budget cap this year as they set to boos their F1 challenge.
Alfa Romeo for the past few years have been at the lower half of the grid. Most of the time used as a place to develop the young drivers from the Ferrari’s academy.
But now, Alfa Romeo’s boss Frederic Vasseur seems to have a changing philosophy. None of the drivers in the current pair has any link with Ferrari. Thus stamping Saubder’s autonomy.
With this, the team also seems to have boosted revenue, especially after the appointment of Guanyu Zhou, whose hiring was influenced by the lucrative financial backing with him.
Moreover, with a Chinese driver at their helm, more sponsorships from the east are coming to them. So, Vasseur assures that his team will be close to the budget cap this year.
“We still have some negotiations in progress, on the sponsor side and so on, but I think we’ll be very close to the budget cap,” said Vasseur to Motorsport.com. “This is a mega opportunity for the company.”
“I’m convinced of that. I’m not just speaking about the company, but even for the team, to know that you are at the limit. This is a different approach, a different mentality. It will be a good push for everybody.”
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Alfa Romeo sees a winner in Valtteri Bottas
Now with Valtteri Bottas in the team, Vasseur feels that they might attain a winning mentality. Though, he also admits that other teams are improving too with the new regulations. So it will be tough but exciting.
“The process in F1 is always a quiet one, because recruitment is a two-year plan or a three-year plan depending on the guy you want,” he said. “Then you have the inertia on the car.”
“It was not always easy, because we had some issues in the last two or three years. But it is like it is. And we know perfectly that if you want to get results, you have to first build up the foundation of the house and then go step by step.”
“It’s a new project [for 2022], it’s a new project developing under the cost cap, and we have a new line-up. We’ll have a new engine from Ferrari and we are trying to put everything together.”
“But, everybody is doing the same. Everybody is trying to improve on the line-up, everybody is trying to improve on the engine, everybody is recruiting.”
“And it’s probably the nicest part of your job that everybody is focused on performance, and convinced that we will do a better job tomorrow. It’s the main motivation.”
