Hinwiler also had a flop in Las Vegas: Alfa-Sauber could not shake off ninth place

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Now it’s time for the approximately 13,500 kilometer flight to the desert final this Sunday in Abu Dhabi. For ninth-placed Alfa-Sauber in the World Cup, it was the last race in which expectations were often too high and dreams remained largely unfulfilled.

Bottas bad start again

Even after Valtteri Bottas’ (34) surprising seventh place on the grid, everyone in the team was officially talking about points. Like before every Grand Prix. But the shot went backwards after just a few seconds.

The Finn, not known as a good starter, was apparently too cautious (which is never a good tactic) and was overtaken by Alonso before the first corner.

And the Spaniard, turned around by a Williams, suddenly found himself facing Bottas. He could no longer ignore it – and immediately afterwards Pérez’s Red Bull crashed into the back of Bottas. And the team was already talking about an ‘almost undriveable’ car.

The C43 – the slowest car

The “accident trio” immediately went to the pits. At the finish, Pérez was third, Alonso ninth and Bottas last. His teammate Guanyu Zhou (24) was able to battle for the last points positions for some time as the Chinese driver was the last driver to change rubber on the 27th lap. And he also benefited from the safety car. In the end, they both only had the slowest race times next to Sargeant.

The quartet for the final

The question before the last 308 kilometers of the season: will anything change in the last four places in the Emirates? Prognosis: barely

• 7. Williams-Mercedes (28 points): Whoever can start sensationally from the third row with both cars should actually score points. But Albon (12th) and Sargeant (16th) struggled with the tires for too long.
• 8. Alpha Tauri Honda (21 points): The worst performance of the year: 14th Ricciardo, Tsunoda out with gearbox damage.
• 9. Alfa-Sauber (16 points): Anyone who hasn’t scored 15 points in 21 races so far can’t complain about being second to last in a week.
• 10. Haas-Ferrari (12 points): Anyone who can never get their tires under control and has only taken one point from the last twelve races in Singapore knows where they belong. Magnussen (13th). Hülkenberg (retired) was retired due to engine problems.

Source : Blick