Formula One: Zhou Guanyu’s nightmare start at Hungarian Grand Prix caused by brake issue, Alfa Romeo say
- ‘I was on full throttle, and then all of a sudden, something went wrong,’ Chinese driver says after going from fifth on the grid to back of the pack
- Despite disappointment, Alfa Romeo say they can take positives from upgrades added at Silverstone
A day that started with such promise for China’s Zhou Guanyu ended before the lights had even turned green at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.
From fifth on the grid after the best qualifying session of his career, the Alfa Romeo driver lost 11 places during an error-hit start and ultimately finished 16th of the 17 drivers to complete the race.
Teammate Valtteri Bottas fared little better. Caught up in the chaos which also saw Zhou hit the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo, incurring a five-second penalty in the process, Bottas dropped from seventh to 12th and never recovered.
Alfa said there had been an issue with the Chinese driver’s “brake system strategy which caused a fail-safe on the engine side and severely compromised the start of his race”.
For Zhou, that meant the “elation from [Saturday’s qualifying] result turned on its head”.
“We are yet to gather all the information about what exactly went on at the start,” he said. “I was on full throttle, and then all of a sudden, something went wrong and I had to do the entire procedure again just in order to do a proper start.”
The mechanical issues left Zhou at the back of the grid. Despite a strategy change and aggressive tactics, the cars did not have the pace to get back into the top 10 of a race won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Still, Zhou preferred to look on the bright side and said the upgrades the team brought in at Silverstone two weeks ago were moving Alfa in the right direction.
Alessandro Bravi, the Alfa team representative, said much the same, adding that the focus would move on to ensuring the issues that dogged the team in Hungary were resolved before the Belgian Grand Prix this Sunday.
“[This] result is upsetting for the team, but there is at least one major positive from the weekend: our overall performance improved from the previous races,” Bravi said. “We must carry it with us as we head to Spa next week, for the final race before the summer break.”
Verstappen meanwhile will carry his dominant form into the race at Spa-Francorchamps, with little sign that his misstep in qualifying at the Hungaroring was anything other than a minor bump in the road to another world championship.
The Dutchman racked up a record-breaking 12th consecutive win for Red Bull and extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship to 110 points.
After blowing past pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap, Verstappen raced off into the distance to claim his seventh successive victory of a truly lop-sided F1 season.
Hamilton finished only fourth after both McLaren drivers also moved ahead of him inside the first two bends of Sunday’s 70-lap race.
Lando Norris was runner-up to Verstappen for the second consecutive race, 33.7 seconds behind the dominant Dutchman, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez fought back from ninth to third with Oscar Piastri crossing the line in fifth.
“Hopefully we can keep this momentum going for a long time,” said Verstappen, whose win on Sunday was his 24th since the start of last season.
“I think it was a pretty perfect day. Of course, it’s really enjoyable to work with the whole team and to have this kind of success.
“I think people probably forget how tough it is to win 12 in a row. Even when you have the fastest car. It’s easy to make mistakes, or have an off weekend.”
