Beat Transmitter: Zhou did a great job again

The start of the new season is quite successful for Alfa Romeo, the Swiss team has earned points in two of the first three races, which of course gives rise to optimism and good mood.

This is especially important after a long period where the team was more than once on the brink of bankruptcy, changed owners and leaders and was dogged by all sorts of failures.

In yesterday’s Australian Grand Prix, veteran Valtteri Bottas took 8th place and championship debutant Guanyu Zhou was literally a step away from the top ten, yet finished 11th.

By the way, he was 11th in Saudi Arabia, and last year this position was generally enchanted for Alfa Romeo drivers: Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were on the 11th line of the protocols seven times.

In Melbourne, the Chinese pilot had a chance to score points until the very last lap of the race, but Alex Albon used an unusual tactic, completing 56 laps on one set of hard rubber, before switching to soft tires just before the start. finish line, managed to return to the track ahead of Zhou and saw a checkered flag 2.3 seconds ahead.

However, Alfa Romeo sporting director Beat Zender has no doubts that Zhou deserves all the credit: “When the Williams driver left the pits for the last lap, Zhou almost overtook him. But Guanyu had to stop his attack attempt, because he was riding on badly worn tires and there was a risk that he would just fly into the gravel. Nevertheless, Zhou did a great job again!”

Of course Alfa Romeo appreciates the work of Valtteri Bottas very much – the Finn absolutely lives up to the expectations associated with him.

“Valtteri handled the difficult task quite professionally,” said Frederic Vasseur, team leader. “And if Stroll hadn’t pushed him off track after the virtual safety car period, we would have finished in 7th place. But I’m happy because I see months of hard work paying off.

In general, Lance Stroll’s actions during the Melbourne race caused outrage at Alfa Romeo, Canadian racer Aston Martin in particular changed direction several times and defended against Bottas on the straight, for which he was eventually fined five seconds.

“In Formula 1, the Stroll was and is a moving chicane! Such actions should be questioned,” Zender said.

After three stages of the season, the team from Hinvil has 13 points, ie it has already earned the same amount as last year and is in 6th place in the Constructors’ Championship.

“Then we can stop already! Vasseur joked after the Australian Grand Prix. “And that at the end of yesterday’s race, the McLaren team was ahead of us, so we have to take that into account.”