According to Guanyu Zhou, his chances of scoring points at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix were “almost gone” even before the Turn 1 incident, the Alfa Romeo driver explains.
The Chinese managed his best Formula 1 qualifying so far on Saturday with grid position five. After a slow start, however, he was run over by the pack before braking into Turn 1 and crashing into the rear of Daniel Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri. Ricciardo then crashed into Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, after which both Alpine cars were out.
Zhou sustained damage to his front wing and was given a five-second penalty by race officials. The stewards found he “just didn’t slow down enough” on the approach to the corner, resulting in an unnecessary collision.
After finishing 16th, Zhou says Alfa Romeo will investigate the problem at the start. “I have no idea, I have to see it,” replies the 24-year-old when asked about his starting problem.
“I have the speed before the fourth [roten] Held light, then the throttle response was completely lost, so I started with practically zero throttle. I’m really disappointed because it was looking really good up until then.
“We need to take a closer look at what’s happening there because it’s weird, it never happens otherwise. I tried to clear it before fifth light by trying to go flat out. But unfortunately nothing happened so I had to go flat out. So my start wasn’t a real start. That’s why my car hardly moved.”
When asked by Motorsport Network for an explanation for the Turn 1 incident, Zhou replies: “Of course I tried to brake as late as possible to regain a few positions, but then unfortunately I crashed into them because of the turbulent air from the cars in front of me. Not what I wanted, but the race was pretty much over for me on the grid.”
Bottas also affected by Zhou’s problem
Zhou’s bad luck at the start also affected teammate Valtteri Bottas, who lost momentum while swerving and dropped from seventh to twelfth as a result. The Finn finished the race in that position because he didn’t manage to overtake Alex Albon’s Williams in the final stint.
When asked by “Motorsport Networks”, Bottas confirmed that his start was “otherwise okay”. “Unfortunately, Zhou had a problem at the start, so I had to avoid him and lost some momentum. But all the cars with soft tires just flew past me on the first lap, which wasn’t great.”
“Even after that, I never felt like I had the pace to make up places. “We definitely had better pace on Saturday compared to the others than on Sunday.”
Bottas pitted early to make up lost ground, following Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin into the pits on lap nine. At their second stop, the strategies diverged; Bottas came into the pits six laps later, but fell in behind Albon and couldn’t pass even with DRS.
“I felt like I lost about half a second per lap,” explains Bottas. “It just wasn’t enough to attack or get past and they were very quick on the straight as always. Unfortunately we lost so much time. It’s always difficult when you’re stuck behind a Williams because you can’t quite get past.”
Where was the speed from Saturday?
Bottas admits he’s puzzled by Alfa’s difficulties in race trim after performing so well in qualifying. “Somehow it only works on one lap at this track,” he says. “But as soon as the tires degrade in the race, we start skidding more. I don’t know why – I have no idea.”
Bottas’ comments are shared by Zhou: “Our one-lap pace was definitely closer to the top riders than our race pace.”
And where exactly the car was weaker on Sunday? “Easily on general grip.”