“I think so,” said Guanyu Zhou after the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix when asked if it was his best Formula 1 race to date. It was definitely one of his best performances so far, the Chinese says happily.
Zhou finished ninth in Barcelona on Sunday, earning two important points for Alfa Romeo. The Sauber squad now has eight points and was once again able to draw level with Haas in seventh place in the world championship.
The result was a “massive relief for us,” Zhou admits, remembering: “It was a difficult start to the season for the team.” Previously, Alfa Romeo had gone three consecutive races without points, the last points were from early April in Melbourne.
And even then, it was only through the chaotic circumstances of the race that Zhou had made it into the points. In Barcelona, on the other hand, all 20 cars finished, with Zhou insisting that the points were “deserved” and the car was “mega”.
“I felt good and took the right chances when the opportunity presented itself,” said the 24-year-old, who was satisfied with his own performance. However, there was also a small controversy in his race on Sunday.
Tsunoda finds punishment ‘ridiculous’ and ‘unfair’
So there was a scene with Yuki Tsunoda in the final stages of Turn 1, where Zhou wanted to overtake the Japanese on the outside. Tsunoda countered this and Zhou went into the run-off zone, whereupon the AlphaTauri pilot received a five-second time penalty and a penalty point.
Opinions on the incident then differ widely. Zhou describes the scene like this: “I was ahead before turning into Turn 1. I left a lot of space in the middle of the corner and then I saw him [und er] didn’t stop.”
“He tried to release the brakes and push me out. I had to dodge, otherwise we would have collided. After that it was difficult because I had so much dirt on my tires,” reports the Chinese, who ultimately crossed the finish line behind Tsunoda .
After the near-accident, he didn’t even start another attempt to overtake the Japanese on the track because he knew that he would get ninth place anyway because of Tsunoda’s time penalty after the race.
Doubly bitter for Tsunoda: He not only lost ninth place but fell back to twelfth place – and thus out of the points. “It was a ridiculous punishment and it feels really unfair,” he dismisses, making it clear that Zhou “definitely” still had room.
Did Tsunoda really push Zhou out?
In his opinion, the Chinese drove off the track on purpose and only made it look like he was pushed out. “But he wasn’t,” emphasizes Tsunoda and clarifies once again: “I left the place.”
“Of course I pushed, but there was still room, so I don’t understand why it was a penalty,” Tsunoda said. The decision of the race stewards was “really tough” and he was “really disappointed,” he explains.
The AlphaTauri driver is particularly annoyed that the penalty was imposed during the race and that he had no opportunity to explain himself. “They give you five seconds without discussion and the race is over,” he dismisses.
However, expert and ex-Formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson sees it more like Zhou and explains to “Sky”: “If Zhou had not avoided, there would definitely have been contact and he would have been physically pushed off the track.”
He doesn’t accuse Tsunoda of malicious intent either. He simply had understeer and that’s how the situation came about. But because Zhou was already a little ahead of him in the curve, the penalty was correct according to the regulations.
Why did Bottas stay so pale in Spain?
Like Tsunoda, Zhou’s teammate Valtteri Bottas remained without a point on Sunday. While the Chinese had one of his best races, Bottas couldn’t get past 19th and penultimate ahead of Logan Sargeant in the Williams.
“It’s pretty clear to me that something [mir dem Auto] is not okay. I think I was missing more than a second per lap, I just slipped around,” reports Bottas, explaining that it was “okay” on new tires, which masked the problem.
“After three laps” he slipped and had no chance. He suspects that something might have been wrong with the car in qualifying. There he was already eliminated in Q1, while Zhou was 13th.
After all: “The upgrades that we [in Monaco] seem to work,” said Bottas, who tied this to the teammate’s performance. He was “very, very satisfied” with Zhou’s result, which is proof that the updates are doing their job.
It remains to be seen whether Alfa Romeo will be able to get both cars in the points again in the future. The last time the Sauber squad did that was at the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix exactly one year ago.