Guanyu Zhou, the cursed one of reliability

Guanyu Zhou had an ideal start to his season. By scoring his first point in his debut Grand Prix in Bahrain, the Chinese driver couldn’t have asked for a better beginning with Alfa Romeo. But since then, the results have been hard to swallow: no points scored in the following seven races. A blank scorecard primarily explained by incredible bad luck: Zhou had to retire three times in the last four races due to mechanical issues.

Among these three retirements, there was Bakou last weekend. A new reliability issue that arises at the worst possible moment, as Zhou seemed to be capable of fighting for points. He was classified 14th in qualifying, ahead of his teammate Bottas (even though a problem with the Finn’s car seems to explain his difficulties this weekend), the Chinese driver was 10th just before his retirement.

After Miami and Barcelona, this is yet another setback for Guanyu Zhou, who couldn’t believe it when he had to return to the pits to retire the car. « When I heard it, it was quite unexpected, and I couldn’t really believe it because it has happened too many times already this year, » he says.

« As a team, we simply have to solve this problem, I believe it is the number one target, or the top priority, » Zhou estimates. « We have to solve it in the next races, because crossing the finish line is always the first key, especially when I had a chance to score points in the last three races. »

Zhou is nevertheless satisfied with his pace that continues to improve. I mean, obviously as a rookie you want to ride as many laps as possible, accumulate as much experience as you can. But looking at the race, looking at how the last races unfolded, I think that on my side I was able to progress and continue to increase the pace.

A frustration is still beginning to arise after the numerous reliability issues encountered with the Ferrari engine in his C42. « The pace was actually better than that of most of my main competitors during this race, so I was comfortable out there, and obviously there was this problem, we can’t really turn that into results once again, so it’s quite frustrating. »

For now, much better than many expected, Guanyu Zhou continues to show good things despite these very and too frequent mechanical problems. Without them, the Chinese driver could easily aim for new points in the upcoming races.