The racer from China achieved his best performance in F1 qualifying on Saturday, securing a fifth-place starting position. However, he encountered difficulties at the start and was overtaken by other drivers. Unfortunately, he ended up colliding with Daniel Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri car while braking for Turn 1.
Ricciardo then inadvertently punted Esteban Ocon into Pierre Gasly, with both Alpine cars eliminated as a result.
Zhou’s front wing was damaged in the crash, and he was given a five-second penalty by the stewards. They determined that he “failed to reduce his speed adequately while approaching the corner, leading to an avoidable collision.”
Zhou expressed his intention for Alfa Romeo to investigate the problem he encountered at the startline, after completing a lapped 16th position.
Zhou responded by saying, “I am unsure, I must investigate.” when questioned about his issue at the start. “I had been maintaining the engine speed before the four lights, but suddenly I completely lost any reaction from the accelerator, resulting in essentially starting with no throttle.”
“I am truly let down as I believe it had great potential from the beginning.”
Later on, he remarked, “We must closely examine the events occurring there as they are quite peculiar and unprecedented. I attempted to regain control prior to the appearance of the five lights and even accelerated to the maximum, but regrettably, no progress was made. Consequently, I had no choice but to retreat.”
“I initiated the motion with a pull-away instead of a traditional start, which is why you observed that my car remained stationary.”
Motorsport.com inquired about Zhou’s explanation for the incident at Turn 1. Zhou responded by stating that he attempted to brake as late as possible in order to regain some positions. However, due to the presence of dirty air from the cars ahead, he unfortunately locked up and collided with them.
This wasn’t what I desired, but the race was essentially finished for me once I crossed the finish line.
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C43
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Zhou’s initial trouble also caused a delay for his teammate Valtteri Bottas. Bottas lost speed while maneuvering around Zhou and as a consequence, dropped from seventh to twelfth place. Despite his efforts, Bottas was unable to overtake Alex Albon’s Williams in the final part of the race and finished in twelfth position.
Bottas made an early pit stop in an attempt to make up for the distance he had lost. He followed Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin into the pits on the ninth lap. However, their strategies differed during their second pit stops, with Bottas pitting six laps later. Despite having the advantage of DRS, Bottas was unable to overtake Albon and ended up rejoining the race behind him.
Bottas clarified that being stuck behind Albon caused him to lose approximately half a second per lap. He expressed that this slight delay prevented him from launching an attack or overtaking, especially considering Albon’s usual speed on the straight.
Regrettably, we wasted a significant amount of time, making it challenging to catch up and engage in a battle with Stroll towards the conclusion. It is consistently difficult when you find yourself trailing behind a Williams car, as overtaking becomes a tough task.
Bottas expressed his confusion over Alfa’s difficulties during the race, despite their impressive performance in qualifying at a track that Alfa considers to be one of their best this year.
“I cannot reword”
“I am unaware – I have no clue.”
Zhou agreed with Bottas’s remarks, stating that “our performance in qualifying was more comparable to the frontrunners than our skills during the race.”
When Motorsport.com inquired about the car’s weaknesses on Sunday, Zhou responded by saying that it lacked overall grip.
Additional reporting by Adam Copper and Matt Kew
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