Red Bull’s perfect start was hampered by a midfield team that took away the fastest lap bonus point. Who is brave enough to overtake the flying Bulls? How could this have happened? This happened as the middle competition remained as tight as ever as Alpine was joined by Alfa Romeo, which took the first shot at its rivals as the teams were left scrambling for the points down the front three-four rows and will be expected to do so later on in the season.

The bandwagon of Alpine and Pierre Gasly made huge gains on the opening weekend as they bagged two points from a P9 finish after starting P20. On the other hand, Esteban Ocon failed to make any impact, having registered a DNF. And while Alpine was on their way to an additional point for the fastest lap, Alfa Romeo brought Zhou Guanyu into the pits to steal away the point.

Having registered the first blow, the team has announced itself as a contender ahead of McLaren as it ended the race with four points, thanks to Valtteri Bottas’ flying opening lap. Zhou’s lap ensured that the point if it wasn’t coming to Alfa, went to none. 

Announcing their battle with Alpine and taking the first shot, Alfa Romeo’s Head of Trackside Engineering Xevi Pujolar was quoted by Motorsportweek as saying, “Our target was [fighting with] Alpine and McLaren, to have good reliability, and I think we hit all these targets. We were ahead of Alpine and McLaren, we got two cars to the end of the race, and getting this fastest lap with Zhou we removed the point from Alpine, so if we can do like this every race I will be very pleased.”

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Each of these points will be crucial for Alpine, McLaren, and Alfa since they could prove to be a deciding factor in their ranks in the constructors’ championship. The margins are tight, and no one will be taking it easy on the other.

Zhou Guanyu supports the call by his team

Drivers often attempt to finish as high as possible for their personal records despite not being in a position to win points. Still, Zhou, who is only in his second F1 season, acted selflessly and supported the call made by the team. 

As quoted by RacingNews365, the Chinese national said, “It was obviously a late call by the team, but I think that was a good way to take off points from our main competitors, Alpine. I think it was the right call to do it because for myself I would’ve only finished P12 or P13, so no much different to where I finished.”

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In qualifying, Zhou wasn’t far behind Bottas, which means he can be a true partner alongside the Finn as they continue to form a powerful duo only held back by the machine underneath them.