Valtteri Bottas: “It’s disappointing to finish my race so early”

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN had an unfortunate day at Spa-Francorchamps, with Valtteri Bottas’ race coming to an early end after trying to avoid a spinning Nicholas Latifi which subsequently left the fin beached in the gravel. Zhou Guanyu ended up finishing in fourteenth place after starting in nineteenth place.

Both drivers came into the race on Sunday taking grid penalties meaning that Zhou would start in nineteenth place and his team-mate Bottas would start in fourteenth. There was confidence going into the race that Alfa Romeo could pick up points, however, this was short-lived as Bottas ended up stuck in the gravel in an attempt to avoid a spinning Latifi on the second lap which in turn ended the birthday boy’s race.

Bottas spoke after the race about the opportunity of scoring points, especially with a mixed-up grid but it wasn’t to be in the end. He now has all of his focus set on next weekend’s race at Zandvoort.

“We had pace today and, with such a mixed-up grid, there could have been opportunities to get a good result, so it’s disappointing to finish my race so early. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time: I saw Latifi spin towards the left, and all I could do was take evasive action to avoid a collision.”

“Unfortunately, I spun on the grass and ended up stuck in the gravel: I tried to go forward and back, but couldn’t move. It’s not the birthday present I wanted, but hopefully I can still have some fun tonight, before we turn our focus on next week.”

Zhou Guanyu: “Our pace was quite alright today”

Credit: Media-hub Sauber Group

After a difficult start for Alfa Romeo which saw Bottas out of the race, it was now on Zhou to try and make his way through the grid in an attempt to score points for the team.

Zhou had a two-stop strategy which saw him start on medium tyres and pit for a fresh set of medium tyres on lap fourteen. On lap twenty-eight, Zhou pitted a second time for the soft compound tyre which lasted him the rest of the race in an attempt to be quicker than the drivers around him on track.

Despite his best efforts of gaining five places, Zhou missed out on points finishing in fourteenth place.

Zhou spoke after the race about having strong pace going into the weekend and how being stuck behind Alex Albon of Williams Racing impacted his race. Zhou admitted he was disappointed and wanted more from the race as the focus now turns to the Dutch Grand Prix.

“Our pace was quite alright today, and despite starting from the back due to the penalty, the race has even been quite exciting, with lots of action going on. Unfortunately, I got stuck behind a Williams train towards the end of the race: they were way fast in sector one, making them hard to pass, and eventually, in the last four or five laps, I had no tyres left, so it was a bit difficult to keep up.”

“In terms of results, we obviously wanted more from today, but we sacrificed this weekend for the engine change; hopefully in the upcoming ones we can start further up on the grid and score some good results.”