Lewis Hamilton surprised on Formula 1 Saturday in Hungary, by taking pole place. However maybe the larger sensation got here just a few rows additional down: Each Alfa Romeos made it into Q3 and with Guanyu Zhou considered one of them even ended up in fifth grid place. Valtteri Bottas rounded off the dream consequence with seventh place.
A shock that hardly anybody had on the slip of paper to this extent earlier than this weekend. That was as a result of the C43 hardly made a reputation for itself this season, and definitely not in qualifying. In Miami, Bottas managed the one Q3 entry of the season to this point. However the place did the brief run tempo of the Swiss group out of the blue come from in Hungary?
Valtteri Bottas: Track characteristics helped us
Bottas primarily attributed Saturday’s success to the layout of the winding Hungaroring, which is dominated by slow and medium-speed corners. “I think this track suits our car and highlights the strengths of our package,” said the Finn. Specifically, it’s all about the speed on the straight. According to Bottas, the Alfa is not as aerodynamically efficient as the competition at full throttle. In Hungary, however, this factor hardly comes into play, instead everyone tries to maximize their downforce.
As expected, Guanyu Zhou was happy after P5 in qualifying. The first Chinese Formula 1 driver said: “I feel really incredible. I was on the limit every lap in qualifying. After leading in Q1 I knew that if I got 100 percent out of the car we would have a chance.”
Measured against the average placing in qualifying, Alfa-Sauber has never had such a good result. Q3 participations were the exception rather than the rule for the Swiss team in the Alfa Romeo era. Drivers from Hinwil only made it into the top 10 in qualifying twice during this period. Most recently, this feat was achieved at the 2020 Turkish GP, when Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi finished P8 and P10 in the rain. As an independent team, it’s the best qualifying result for Sauber in over ten years.
Alfa Romeo: Do qualifying feats also result in points?
In the race, the picture could look different again. What gives Alfa Romeo hope, however, is that the car showed good pace on all tire sets. In Q1, Zhou set the session best time ahead of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, but he still ended Q2 in 9th place. Fifth place in the last segment was a cherry on the pie.
Zhou goes into the race with great expectations: “Our main goal is to be ‘Best of the Rest'”. The 24-year-old calculated that Sergio Perez would probably be let go without much resistance in the presumably overpowering Red Bull, but he feels armed against all other direct opponents.
Of course, the track characteristics could play into the team’s hands again. Overtaking is traditionally very difficult at the Hungaroring and the good starting positions are all the more worth it. Bottas concluded from the long run data: “I think we will have a very similar pace to many other teams. We have to get the strategy right because I see no reason why we can’t score some points.”
Source link
USASports – #AlfaSauber #succeeds #Hungary #sensation #Large #factors #race
Revealed : 2023-07-22 18:32:00
