Alfa-Sauber’s ingenious Zhou trick

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Under the new CEO Andreas Seidl (47), Alfa-Sauber did everything right in the first race: Valtteri Bottas (33) saved 8th place with his experience and thus four valuable World Championship points.

And eventually the command post with sports director Beat Zehnder also struck. Guanyu Zhou (24), hopelessly in 16th, was called into the pits on the penultimate lap to change tires.

Devil Gasly

The reason was clear: Pierre Gasly, who was hard behind Bottas in the last ten laps with the Alpine, had the fastest race lap with 1:35.068 and almost certainly had the extra point in his pocket.

But Zhou still put on a good show with the soft rubber – 1:33.996. In this way he prevented the extra point for the French. Even the Chinese got nothing, as this bonus is only paid if you finish in the top ten.

Four top teams and then Alfa-Sauber

“We are more than happy with the start. A good team effort,” Zehnder told Blick. In the desert, Hinwil clearly showed that you can play first fiddle behind the four top teams.

Therefore, the four points were worth their weight in gold. And we remember: in 2022, Alfa-Sauber had only scored four points from the last 13 races under boss Vasseur!

Successful start from Bottas

Bottas said it before the race: “The car has gotten better over the winter.” And in the end, the start went well for the Finn: he gained four positions in the first lap.

A year ago, Bottas lost 43 places in 14 races on the starting lap alone – a negative record in Formula 1. The clutch problem seems to be over.

World Cup stands

You can find the standings of the World Championship drivers here!

You can find the World Cup standings for the teams here!

Source : Blick