Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas has been excluded from the results of today’s qualifying session for the British Grand Prix due to a lack of fuel, which means he will start tomorrow’s race from the back of the grid.
During the first round of qualifying, Bottas made it through to the next stage but his car came to a halt on the track after the chequered flag. The car had to be retrieved and brought back to the pit lane by the marshals. Bottas was unsure why the car had stopped without warning, stating, We need to find out. There’s obviously many reasons that can cause the engine to stop, so I don’t know. It’s a shame, but not much I can do.
However, it was later discovered by the FIA that the car did not have enough fuel for them to take the mandatory post-session one-litre test sample. This insufficiency in fuel may or may not have contributed to the car coming to a halt. According to Jo Bauer, the FIA’s technical delegate, only a 0.090 litre sample could be taken, while the amount of fuel needed for the sample and for returning the car to the garage was calculated to be 2.39 litres.
As a result, the stewards decided that there were no valid reasons for Alfa Romeo’s inability to provide a sufficient fuel sample, leading to Bottas’ exclusion from the qualifying results. The last time a car was excluded on similar grounds was Alex Albon at last year’s Australian GP.
This means that Sergio Perez will move up to 15th on the grid, with Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Nyck de Vries, and Kevin Magnussen all benefiting from one place promotions as well.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Alfa Romeo’s team representative, expressed disappointment over the situation, stating, We are undoubtedly disappointed, as we felt more than on previous days that we had the potential to do well. With Valtteri, we showed that we were comfortably into Q2, but a technical issue related to fuel forced him to stop and pull out of qualifying.
Bottas himself expressed his disappointment, highlighting their potential to make it into the top ten. He explained, Today’s results are very disappointing. It seemed we actually had a real chance to make it into the top ten. I started to lose power on the final inlap, and then the engine stopped. We eventually figured out it was a technical issue with the fuel in the car, and we are already working to address that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Despite starting at the back of the grid, Bottas remains optimistic and determined to fight through the field in tomorrow’s race. He acknowledged improvements in the car’s performance and expressed his aim to make the most out of the situation.
In addition to Bottas’ exclusion, the stewards also investigated Zhou Guanyu’s potential impeding of Esteban Ocon during qualifying but decided not to penalize him. However, AlphaTauri was fined five thousand Euros for an unsafe release on pit road involving Nyck de Vries and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Overall, it is an unfortunate turn of events for Bottas and Alfa Romeo, but tomorrow’s race will provide an opportunity for the driver to demonstrate his skills and determination in overcoming this setback.
