Another abandonment that “hurts” for Guanyu Zhou in Barcelona

In an interview for AutoHebdo at the beginning of May, Guanyu-Zhou revealed to us that he was “more than happy with how things went” his beginnings in F1. It was then after the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, in Imola. Since then, two rounds have passed, in Miami and Barcelona, ​​with two similar results: retirements due to mechanical problems. Not sure that the Chinese are as satisfied as a month ago...

In Spain on Sunday, the pilot Alfa Romeo had to enter the garage prematurely, on the 28th lap. “I was informed that I had to stop the car, cool the car, there was a problem. Probably not the same as Miami, but it's a shame and quite disappointing. We've been fighting for points for two races with the drivers around us, but we can't get to the finish line. »

After this second consecutive retirement, the excitement of the beginning gave way to frustration for the rookie. With only one point scored, Zhou begins to suffer from the comparison with his teammate. Valtteri Bottas, author of an excellent Grand Prix in Spain (6th), already has 38 units and alone carries the Alfa Romeo team to the championship. “It hurts, of course (…) I felt like all the times we couldn't finish the race, we were there fighting with the drivers who are all in the battle for the middle of the grid. It would be amazing to be involved in these battles, but it's quite frustrating to have had these two races with a problem. »

Zhou hopes for future races without problems

Within the Alfa Romeo team, disappointment is also present. The Italian-Swiss team knows that it has a good car but still has to battle with reliability concerns. The cause of the problem that caused Zhou to retire was not determined after the race. “We know it's something related to the cooling system, and we had to retire the car to avoid damaging the engine, but we haven't found the root cause yet” said Alfa Romeo's chief track engineer, Xevi Pujolar.

Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Guanyu Zhou is hoping for a trouble-free weekend. “We really need to focus on doing everything right, making sure we can at least finish the race and improve from here on out. » The Chinese also won the first sprint race last year in Formula 2. Enough to give a little optimism…

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