The Hungarian Grand Prix was certainly one to forget for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, with Guanyu Zhou finishing thirteenth, and Valtteri Bottas retiring a handful of laps before the end of the race.
After the race, Zhou explained that a bad start and an attempted one-stop strategy didn’t work out for the Italian/Swiss team, which they also attempted with Bottas.
“Conditions today weren’t a threat per se, they were a bit mixed, especially a little more slippery on the last few laps, but overall okay,” said the Chinese driver. “I think our plan today didn’t really pay off, we struggled on lap one and on the first few laps losing ground to other cars, and as going for one stop didn’t work out, we had to do an extra one which put me on the back of the field. It was quite frustrating, as it compromised my chances.“
The #24 driver then compared the pace of the C42 to the time of the British Grand Prix a month ago.
“Besides this, I think we had a strong pace today, and we deserved a little more, as in terms of performances we seemed to be back to where we were around Silverstone.
“I learned a lot so far this season, it’s been both tough and enjoyable, and there’s still much room for improvement. It feels good to have a little break now, and hopefully come back even stronger and push for better results.”
“The hard tires didn’t build up as fast as I was hoping,” says Bottas
The Hard tyre seemed to be the most problematic tyre on Sunday, as the cool track conditions made it difficult to generate temperature. Charles Leclerc and Scuderia Ferrari were the talking points of the race for choosing this tyre; though Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo were also seen to struggle.
“It was tricky again today, a bit like in France, as the hard tires didn’t build up as fast as I was hoping. We tried it, we thought that was going to be the best chance for us, but ultimately it wasn’t,” said Bottas. “We committed to a one-stop strategy, and it was hard to back out of it.“
The Finn then explained that a loss of power was the reason why his car stopped with just a handful of laps to go.
“On top of that, a few laps before the end I had to stop the car because of a technical issue, which was a shame. I just lost power, we do not know the details yet: obviously, it’s unfortunate and we will investigate it with the team, but I still think points seemed quite unlikely.
“I am looking forward to enjoying the summer break now, to recharge and come back full of energy for the second half of the season.”
With the summer break now underway, Alfa Romeo finds themselves in ‘no man’s land’, as they are sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, but are seventeen points ahead of Haas F1 team, and forty-four points away from McLaren F1 Team.
