Formula One: Zhou Guanyu’s nightmare start at Hungarian Grand Prix caused by brake issue, Alfa Romeo say
- ‘I was on full throttle, and then all of a sudden, something went wrong,’ Chinese driver says after going from fifth on the grid to back of the pack
- Despite disappointment, Alfa Romeo say they can take positives from upgrades added at Silverstone
A day that started with such promise for China’s Zhou Guanyu ended before the lights had even turned green at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.
From fifth on the grid after the best qualifying session of his career, the Alfa Romeo driver lost 11 places during an error-hit start and ultimately finished 16th of the 17 drivers to complete the race.
Teammate Valtteri Bottas fared little better. Caught up in the chaos which also saw Zhou hit the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo, incurring a five-second penalty in the process, Bottas dropped from seventh to 12th and never recovered.
Alfa said there had been an issue with the Chinese driver’s “brake system strategy which caused a fail-safe on the engine side and severely compromised the start of his race”.
For Zhou, that meant the “elation from [Saturday’s qualifying] result turned on its head”.
“We are yet to gather all the information about what exactly went on at the start,” he said. “I was on full throttle, and then all of a sudden, something went wrong and I had to do the entire procedure again just in order to do a proper start.”
