Formula 1: China’s Zhou Guanyu won’t be ‘doing anything stupid’ in race for points at Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- Alfa Romeo rookie believes team has a good opportunity to finish in top 10 for second week in a row
- But incident-filled qualifying session means Zhou is keeping his expectations in check
Zhou Guanyu’s first target at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday is just to finish the race on a street circuit Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who sits in pole position, called “the most dangerous place on the calendar”.
Perez was speaking from experience, having been forced out of last year’s race in Jeddah after a four-car crash ended his participation. In 2021, there were two red flags, one safety car and four virtual safety cars during a race only half the field finished.
There was another red flag in qualifying on Saturday after a nasty accident involving Haas driver Mick Schumacher, who was airlifted to hospital for further examination following a heavy crash at around 240kp/h that left him needing to be helped from the mangled wreckage of his car.
Haas F1 ruled Schumacher out of Sunday’s race and the American team said it would field just one car.
“It’s a circuit that really demands a lot from the drivers, from the cars, from the teams. If you get it wrong, it can be a huge accident,” Perez said. “The last thing I want to think is about the track, and I think going forwards it’s again a discussion.”
While Zhou believes he has an opportunity to be in the points for the second time this season, he will not be “doing anything stupid” as he continues his impressive start to his rookie year with Alfa Romeo Racing.
“The target is always to try and bring the car into the points, and I think both cars have a good opportunity to do that, but I think in the race there could be a lot of carnage going on,” he said. “To keep it calm and clean, and to complete the whole race is my first target, because I don’t want to be doing anything stupid, I just want to be gaining that experience lap by lap.
“I think as a team we have an opportunity to be in the points, but in Jeddah, anything can happen.”
The Chinese driver will begin the race in 13th place on the grid, two spots higher than his starting position at the season-opener in Bahrain last week. Teammate Valtteri Bottas will start from eighth.
And while he again made it to second qualifying, and had a chance at Q3 before Schumacher’s crash, Zhou said his expectations for success were lower this time around because it was his first experience of driving an F1 car on a street circuit.
“Looking at last week, where we started, we definitely have a higher chance to be getting some points, but I’m not going to say anything just yet because it’s my first time doing a race on street circuit in a Formula 1 car and I don’t want to have big expectations,” Zhou said. “I just want to keep improving myself, which has been the case throughout the week.
F1 qualifying: Perez bags first pole of career, China’s Zhou seals 13th spot
Perez, meanwhile, secured pole at the 215th time of asking during a dramatic session in which he upstaged teammate Max Verstappen, and after Lewis Hamilton had failed to make it out of Q1 for the first time since 2017.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc joins Perez on the front row, with world champion Verstappen on the second row after qualifying in fourth behind the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
“It took me a couple of races! But what a lap man, it was unbelievable!” said Perez, the first Mexican to head an F1 grid. “I could do 2,000 laps and I couldn’t beat that one!” he added.
Verstappen described his first lap in Q3 as “terrible”, adding: “I didn’t really feel comfortable. Checo [Perez] did a great job today and I am very happy for him.”
Red Bull will now be hoping for better luck on Sunday than in the season-opener in Bahrain last week when both their cars failed to finish in a race won by Leclerc.
