“Raising his game,” Alfa Romeo is pleased with Zhou Guanyu as he continues to match veteran Valtteri Bottas

Alfa Romeo is very impressed with the exploits of Zhou Guanyu in the 2023 F1 season.

“Raising his game,” Alfa Romeo is pleased with Zhou Guanyu as he continues to match veteran Valtteri Bottas

Zhou Guanyu

Zhou Guanyu is in his second year in F1 and has started to show signs that he can give his Alfa Romeo teammate, Valtteri Bottas, tough competition in 2023. Guanyu had a pretty up-and-down 2022 campaign, but since the beginning of this year’s events, he has been very consistent. He has been able to outperform his teammate on several occasions.

Zhou Guanyu qualified and finished the race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit ahead of his teammate and has looked extremely strong behind the wheel of the C43. Alfa Romeo is very happy with how the Chinese driver is performing this year, and while talking about it, the Swiss team’s head of trackside engineering Xevi Pujolar, said, “I think Zhou is raising the game. And I would say now they are both quite even.”

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“That’s good for us. Qualifying [in Australia] was not ideal, but in the last two qualifying sessions they are close to Q3, both of them and that’s good for the team. From the start of winter testing, Zhou made a markedly more assured impression, and in Melbourne, he said that “it’s good to be feeling confident for the first race of the year which I wasn’t last year this time.”

Looking at Pujolar’s comments, it is pretty clear that Alfa Romeo is elated with the huge upturn in the performances of Zhou Guanyu. Moreover, the team feels, Guanyu’s strong form in 2023 will help his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, in upping his game. Alfa Romeo views the current situation as a win-win for the team.

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Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas can do wonders for Alfa Romeo

Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas
Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas is a seasoned campaigner when it comes to F1, and Zhou Guanyu has also started showing his class behind the wheel of an F1 car. Moreover, barring the top 3-4 teams, the competition is extremely tight in the midfield. Alfa Romeo also feels the same way, its head of trackside engineering, while talking about it, said, “It’s clear there are three or four teams clearly ahead of the rest – but then I think from P8 downwards it is very tight. Everybody can be grabbing these final points finishes, which is the target.”

As things stand, Alfa Romeo is eighth in the Constructors Championship with 6 points to its name. The competition is very tight, and the teams ahead of them are not very far away. Haas F1 is only one point ahead, whereas Alpine and McLaren are currently 2 and 6 points ahead of the Hinwii-based F1 team.

Considering the above-mentioned statistics, would it be possible for a small team like Alfa Romeo to close the gap to the heavy hitters of the midfield? Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu have got a huge task ahead of them this year, and it is going to be fascinating to see how the duo would fare in the midfield, considering there are still 20 races left.

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