Zhou Guanyu accepts the penalty for Schumacher collision but asks stewards to “Just keep it consistent”
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Zhou Guanyu
Zhou Guanyu has had an unfortunate season in 2022. He has generally driven very well, indeed, he is considered to have ticked all the boxes for being considered for another contract in 2023. While he has only 5 points, it is his first season in the car, and lady luck has evaded him quite many times.
He had scored points in his first race, but since that, he has retired 5 times during races in 2022. Before his retirement in France, he had been involved in a terrifying accident at the start of the British Grand Prix, where, after contact with George Russell, his car had flipped and went into the fence.
With 5 retirements, a lot of them coming from technical and mechanical issues, it has certainly been hard for the Chinese driver to build a steady rhythm in the season. However, in France, he was also involved in a tangle with Mick Schumacher, which left him with a 5-second penalty. Right now, the Alfa Romeo just does not look great, and even Valtteri Bottas has not scored points in the last three races.
Zhou on collision: “We both misjudged where we were in the position”
As reported by RaceFans was unhappy with the lack of consistency shown in making the stewards’ decision-making regarding racing collisions and contacts. Earlier this year, George Russell and Sergio Perez had been involved in a similar incident back in Austria, for which George Russell was penalized.
But Alex Albon, in the same race, in Austria, was not penalized for his collision with Sebastian Vettel. In France, the stewards had ruled that Zhou was ‘predominantly’ to blame for the incident with Mick Schumacher, and this was why he was handed the five-second penalty. Of course, in the end, it did not matter, because he was forced to retire from the race due to an engine issue.
On the incident, Zhou said: “Unfortunately with Mick, obviously into the corner I was ahead and before the corner ends, he kind of got more speed and going around a little bit in front of me, but by that time I had closed a little bit more in the corner.“
He thought that Schumacher did not leave him enough space: “I think we both a little bit misjudged where we were in the position so it was almost impossible by that point before I realised he started closing more. I think he didn’t let me have enough space so unfortunately, we had the contact, which is not something I wanted.”
Zhou thought the incident was comparable with the two mentioned above and said: “So I’m happy to take five seconds, but obviously just keep it consistent because Alex didn’t get a penalty. So as soon as it’s consistent for the rest of the year, I’m happy to do that.” the stewards have also given the driver two penalty points, bringing up his total to 4.
On the issue that forced him to retire, Zhou said that he had been suffering a lack of power in irregular time intervals: one lap it was okay then the next it wasn’t, and towards the end, he was just losing all the speed, so they elected to retire the car. He added that having these issues even halfway through the season was ‘not ideal’, and that he hopes they can fix the issue as soon as possible.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)