Alfa Romeo scored only a handful of points on their way to eighth in the Constructors’ Championship. Here are the facts and statistics from Alfa Romeo’s 2020 F1 season!
Despite scoring 49 fewer points than in 2019 Alfa Romeo remained eighth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2020. The team scored on only a handful of occasions this season, with Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi each scoring four points. Their tally of eight points is the team’s lowest since 2016, when the team was named Sauber. It has also been rare to see an Alfa Romeo driver make it past the first stage of qualifying in 2020. It has happened on only eight occasions, including both cars making it through to Q3 at the Turkish Grand Prix. In better news, their cars have at least been reliable this year, with only Mercedes having completed more Grand Prix laps.
The team continue with the same driver line-up next year, with Raikkonen entering his nineteenth season in Formula 1. Both Raikkonen and Giovinazzi will be hoping for a more fruitful 2021.
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RACE STATISTICS
- Championship Position: 8th
- Total Points: 8
- Points Scoring Races: 4
- Double Points Finishes: 1
- Best finish: 9th (x3)
- Number of DNFs: 4
- Number of DNSs: 0
- Laps Led: 0
- Laps Complete: 1902
- Total Laps Raced in the Top 10: 239
- % of Laps Complete: 91.71%
- Distance Covered: 9.513km (2nd)
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QUALIFYING STATISTICS
- Both cars in Q3: 1
- Q3 Appearances: 2
- Q2 Exits: 6
- Q1 Exits: 26
- Best Qualifying Position: 8th (Raikkonen, Turkey)
- Worst Qualifying Position: 20th (x5)
- Average Gap to Ultimate Pace: 2.99% (2019: 2.04%, 2018: 2.64%)
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A STATISTIC FROM EVERY GRAND PRIX
Austria: At the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix, the Alfa Romeo name equalled the number of races started by the Osella team. Osella started 132 races, with their last appearance being at the 1990 Australian Grand Prix. For a second consecutive year, Antonio Giovinazzi scored points at the Austrian Grand Prix. It also made 2020 the third year in a row that the Alfa Romeo team have finished in ninth place at this event. Kimi Raikkonen retired from the Austrian Grand Prix for the third time in his career. It was the first time an Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber) driver has retired from the Austrian Grand Prix since 2003. In qualifying, for the third time in the last four races, both Alfa Romeo drivers were out in Q1. It was the first time both of the team’s cars have been eliminated in Q1 at the Austrian Grand Prix since 2017.
Styria: Before 2020, Kimi Raikkonen had never recorded consecutive Q1 exits. The 2020 Styrian Grand Prix marked his third Q1 exit in a row. It was also the first time that both Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber) drivers have been eliminated in Q1 for three consecutive races since the start of the 2018 season.
Hungary: With Antonio Giovinazzi qualifying in nineteenth and Kimi Raikkonen qualifying in twentieth, this was the first time that both of Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber)’s drivers have been eliminated in Q1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix since Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica were both out in Q1 in 2009.
Britain: With both Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi eliminated in Q1, this was the first time that both Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber) drivers have been eliminated in Q1 at the British Grand Prix since 2017. The team recorded a double Q1 elimination for a fifth successive race.
70th Anniversary: For a sixth consecutive weekend, both Alfa Romeo drivers were eliminated in Q1. This was only the second time in his career that Kimi Raikkonen has qualified last as a result of pure pace alone. The only other time it has happened was at the 2020 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Spain: Kimi Raikkonen gave Alfa Romeo their first Q2 appearance since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, ending a streak of six consecutive double Q1 eliminations. The team have now qualified in fourteenth in all of the last three seasons at the Spanish Grand Prix. Qualifying in last place, Antonio Giovinazzi made this the seventh consecutive year in which an Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber) driver has been eliminated in Q1 at the Spanish Grand Prix. In the race, the team recorded the same result as they did at the circuit one year previously.
Belgium: For the eighth time in the last ten races, both Alfa Romeo drivers were eliminated in Q1. It was the first time that both of the team’s cars have been eliminated in Q1 at the Belgian Grand Prix since 2017. Antonio Giovinazzi retired from the race for a second consecutive year. This was the Italian driver’s first retirement since he crashed out of last year’s Spa race. He made it the fifth consecutive year in which an Alfa Romeo/Sauber driver retired from the Belgian Grand Prix.
Italy: At the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, the Alfa Romeo name equalled the number of races started by the Toyota team. Toyota started 139 races, with their last appearance being at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen recorded Alfa Romeo’s second Q2 appearance of the season.
Tuscany: Raikkonen remained the only Alfa Romeo driver to reach Q2 in 2020, and the Tuscan Grand Prix was the third time he had done so. Raikkonen finished the race in ninth place, marking the first time that Alfa Romeo scored since the opening race of the season, where Antonio Giovinazzi also finished in ninth.
Russia: Alfa Romeo recorded their first double Q1 exit in Russia since they were named Sauber in 2017. While Kimi Raikkonen equalled his worst qualifying result of the year (20th), Antonio Giovinazzi equalled his best qualifying result of the season to date (17th).
Eifel: Antonio Giovinazzi reached Q2 for the first time since the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, recording Alfa Romeo’s fourth Q2 appearance of the 2020 season.
Portugal: For the eighth time in 2020, both Alfa Romeo drivers were eliminated in Q1 at the Portuguese Grand Prix. This was the first time the Alfa Romeo name had raced in the Portuguese Grand Prix since 1985.
Emilia Romagna: Alfa Romeo recorded their ninth double Q1 exit of 2020. Antonio Giovinazzi equalled his worst qualifying result of the season and also recorded Alfa Romeo’s worst ever Imola qualifying result. Their previous worst was 19th for Vittorio Brambilla in 1980. It was also the second-worst Imola qualifying result for the Sauber team. Karl Wendlinger qualified 21st in 1995. For the third time during their stint as team-mates at Alfa Romeo, Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi both scored for Alfa Romeo. They also both scored at the 2019 Austrian and Brazilian Grands Prix. It was the first time that Alfa Romeo have finished in the top ten at Imola since Eddie Cheever finished seventh in 1984, and the first time that both drivers for the former Sauber team have scored in a single race at the track.
Turkey: For the first time since the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix, both Alfa Romeo drivers reached Q3. Kimi Raikkonen’s eighth place was his best qualifying position since the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, while Antonio Giovinazzi’s tenth place was his best since the 2019 Austrian race.
Bahrain: The Alfa Romeo team saw both cars eliminated in Q1 at the Bahrain Grand Prix for the third time in the last five years. Both Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi reached Q3 at the Turkish Grand Prix, making this only the seventh occasion where a team has recorded a double Q1 exit having had both cars in Q3 at the previous race. This was the first time it had happened since Williams at the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix. With Raikkonen fifteenth and Giovinazzi sixteenth, this is the first time that Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber) have not scored at the Bahrain Grand Prix since 2017.
Sakhir: Both Alfa Romeo drivers finished the Sakhir Grand Prix in better positions than they finished the Bahrain Grand Prix one week previously. Kimi Raikkonen finished one position further up the order, while Antonio Giovinazzi’s result was better by three positions.
Abu Dhabi: For only the second Abu Dhabi Grand Prix since 2015, Antonio Giovinazzi ensured that Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber) would make a Q2 appearance at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In the past five years, 2018 – when both cars reached Q2 – is the only other time that the team have made it out of Q1 at the event.
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