Third clear round in a row
Is Alfa-Sauber throwing away the good season?
The Alfa-Sauber fans are suddenly rubbing their eyes in confusion: After a great start to the season, now the brutal crash with the third zero in a row! That’s what the team says about it.
Everything has gone wrong since Zhou’s horrific crash at Silverstone: And with a race before the summer break, the dream of fourth or fifth place in the world championship isn’t even worth thinking about. In the end, the ten-time GP winner Bottas was able to prevent the greatest shame in Le Castellet and push Schumi into 15th and last place in the Haas-Ferrari.
Shortly before, Zhou had given up the heat battle. This means he can change some parts for Hungary next Sunday for free. The Chinese collided with Schumi on the 23rd lap – and received a five-second penalty and two penalty points for the harmless incident! The German, somewhat optimistically, started a maneuver to Zhou’s left and then turned.
But this scene also fit the black Sunday of Hinwil. Bottas (like only Sainz and Gasly started with the hard rubber), immediately lost his eleventh starting position. The Finn endured the nightmare when even the still pointless Latifi (who later collided with Magnussen) overtook him.
It’s up to boss Vasseur again to motivate the battered team for the next heated battle in Hungary. Raikkonen had got at least one World Cup point there in 2021. After all: Haas also remains without points. In the duel for sixth place in the World Championship, Alfa-Sauber is still ahead with 51 to 34 points.
That says Clean
Team boss Frédéric Vasseur: “Bottas had problems at the start. From then on we were at the bottom of the field and it was difficult to get into the top 10. Our pace was ok, Zhou showed that after the stop. He then had to give up the race because of problems with the power unit.”
Valtteri Bottas: “I lost a lot of places at the start. It went a little better with the medium tires. Hopefully the updates in Budapest will help us.
Guanyu Zhou: «I couldn’t fix the problem with the power unit and had to retire from the race. But the race was never over for us anyway. When I made contact with Mick, I was defending the inside at Turn 11 and then I ran out of space. That just happens in a race.”
Team boss Frédéric Vasseur: “Bottas had problems at the start. From then on we were at the bottom of the field and it was difficult to get into the top 10. Our pace was ok, Zhou showed that after the stop. He then had to give up the race because of problems with the power unit.”
Valtteri Bottas: “I lost a lot of places at the start. It went a little better with the medium tires. Hopefully the updates in Budapest will help us.
Guanyu Zhou: «I couldn’t fix the problem with the power unit and had to retire from the race. But the race was never over for us anyway. When I made contact with Mick, I was defending the inside at Turn 11 and then I ran out of space. That just happens in a race.”