Alfa Romeo convinced it has made 'one of the biggest steps' in F1 this year

Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur is in no doubt consistent points are possible after claiming the team has made one of the biggest performance steps in Formula 1 this season.

Throughout last season Alfa Romeo found itself fighting with Williams and Haas to avoid the last row of the grid, whilst collecting just eight points from the 17 races.

In this year's season-opening race in Bahrain, drivers Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen comfortably made it into Q2, with the latter two seconds off from claiming a top-10 place in the race.

With a key area of difference being the new Ferrari power unit this season, Vasseur said: "We had a solid start of the season and that’s a good basis upon which to build, starting from this weekend [the Emilia Romagna GP at Imola].

"We have made a considerable step forward in performance, possibly one of the biggest across the field, and we are now in the midfield fight.

"But the top 10 is where you have to finish to bring home the points so that has to be our objective for Imola."

Last year's race at the circuit delivered Alfa Romeo its only double points finish of the campaign as Raikkonen and Giovinazzi claimed ninth and 10th respectively.

Vasseur knows any repeat will be dependent on qualifying given the track does not lend itself to overtaking, with just six passes last year on F1's return to the venue after a 14-year absence.

"Last year, we had our best result of the season here and we can take that as an encouragement, although we know the form we showed in 2020 is only a vague indicator of what we can expect this time around," added Vasseur.

"We have seen how difficult it is to overtake around this circuit, so our Saturday performance will be crucial to make sure we get to the race in the best possible position to bring home points.”

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