(Motorsports news) Despite a slow start and a collision with Daniel Ricciardo’s AlphaTauri as he braked for Turn 1, Zhou Guanyu completed his greatest F1 qualifying effort to date on Saturday to start fifth. Then, by accident, Ricciardo punted Esteban Ocon into Pierre Gasly, eliminating both Alpine vehicles.

The stewards assessed Zhou a five-second penalty and said that he “simply did not slow down enough when approaching the corner, resulting in an unnecessary collision” because of the contact, which caused damage to his front wing. Zhou claimed Alfa Romeo would investigate into his startline issue after finishing a lapped 16th.

When asked about Zhou’s start-up issue, Zhou answered, “I have no idea, I need to take a look. “I was holding the revs until to the four lights, but afterward, I just lost all throttle response, so I essentially started with zero throttle. Really disappointed because I believed it to be at its best at the beginning.

We need to look at what occurs there in greater depth because this is strange and has never happened before, he subsequently said. I attempted to stop before the five lights and tried to accelerate fully, but sadly nothing happened, so I had to pull away. “So my start wasn’t really a start; it was more of a pull-away. You saw my car wasn’t moving because of this.

When asked to explain his accident at Turn 1, Zhou told, “I was definitely attempting to brake as late as I could to try to recover some positions back, but unfortunately I locked up into the cars ahead due in part to the foul air of the cars ahead. “So not what I wanted, but after the finish line, the race was pretty much over for me.”

Teammate Valtteri Bottas was also delayed by Zhou’s poor start; as a result, he slid from seventh to twelve in the standings. The Finn finished in the same spot after failing to overtake Alex Albon’s Williams in the last segment.

Following Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin into the pits on lap nine, Bottas made an early pit stop in an effort to regain lost distance. Bottas pitted six circuits after Albon did, but he reappeared behind Albon and was unable to pass even with DRS as the two parted ways on their second stops.

While trailing Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas claimed that he felt as though he lost about a second every lap. They were also very quick on the draw, so there wasn’t quite enough time to attack or get by. Unfortunately, we lost since Stroll is difficult to catch and battle in the end. When you are forced to pass a Williams, it is always difficult.

Considering Alfa’s good qualifying performance at a venue it considers to be “one of the strongest races for our car this year,” Bottas acknowledged that he was perplexed by the Italian team’s difficulties in race trim. “Somehow on a single lap, at this track, it’s working,” he remarked. “But as soon as the race’s tyres start to drop, we begin to slide more,” the driver said.

Also read: Porsche commits to Formula E till 2026