Next season we are going to see only one rookie on the Formula 1 grid. Guanyu Zhou. The Alfa Romeo driver will also make history when he starts in Bahrain. He will become the very first Chinese Formula One driver.
No better teammate than Bottas
Valtteri Bottas will trade his seat at championship team Mercedes for backmarkers Alfa Romeo next season. For Bottas it is a big step back, but Zhou is only too happy with his experienced teammate. The Chinese driver could not wish for a better teammate, as he told in an interview on social media to F1i.com. "If I want to beat him, I know I have to work very hard and adapt to Formula 1 very quickly."
Above all, Bottas can help his young teammate along the way. According to Zhou, Bottas is very open and shares his information with the team and himself. According to Zhou, Bottas is one of the few drivers who can surpass Hamilton. For Zhou, Bottas is a good reference to draw on. "I hope to improve with him next year," he said.
Small goals for Zhou in rookie season
In 2021, Zhou became champion in the Asian F3 Championship and third in the Formula 2 Championship, behind Oscar Piastri and Robert Shwartzman. The Alfa Romeo driver managed to win a total of four races. With his goals for next season, he is still cautious, because he has no idea how competitive the car will be.
Zhou will have to wait until the beginning of the season but does not think he can score points in the first few races. He especially does not want to put too much pressure on himself, enjoy racing in Formula 1 and learn from his teammate and the engineers. "If I improve in all areas, the results will come naturally."
The obsession this blog has for LH is worrying. LH lives rent free in Holland.
Charles Lelerc and Lando are true racers, clean and aggressive. Max weaving under breaking, driving completely of the track in Brazil. Massi gave him the championship, he did not earn it.
Lmafo, remember when lamington, yes I'm spelling it that way, force osff the track 29 times in Bahrain? Remember when lamington driven Verstappen off.the track at Silverstone, remember when bottas took Verstappen out at Hungary, remember when lamington had the illigal rear wing at Brazil and. It getting a weekend disqualification, the same punishment Perez and guiteriez recieved for a similar issue, remember how all a sudden Mercedes made the engine so much quicker even though there.was a.freeze ok engine performance upgrades, remember when I'm 1 lap.lamington nearly cause 2 incidents on track due to driving slow even though he was warned with zero punishment. Your boy lamington got what he deserved, he and Mercedes cheated all year with the well wishes of the FIA for a.close and profitable championship. Had the rules been followed properly lamington would of had his ass waxed with 4 races left. Lamington is simply over the hill and lucky to have the quickest car, and even with the quickest car and cheating half the season, max still smacked.him across his massive forehead and made his hair line recede even more,.8f possible... Hahahahahah
Actually, Bottas holds speed record in F1 (multiple ones). He is fast. But... Maybe he is fast in qualy, but he is lacking for a raw speed in the race.
We know that Bottas is not a terribly quick driver, and would be lucky to make it into the Top Ten Best Driver list for last season.
So, for him to be able to occasionally out qualify Hamilton, means that Hami is not all that quick himself.
There are at least 4 or 5 drivers in the current field who will be faster in similar machinery.
Max, definitely, for one, who got more poles and won more races in a slightly slower car.
Russell who out-qualified Hamilton in a Williams at Spa, when wet conditions shows the drivers talents and less on car performance.
I am willing to bet that Charles and possibly even Lando will out-qualify Hamilton as well if they were all driving identical cars.
Yep. That about sums it up nicely. Hamilton was way off the pace last season. Didn't get the most out of his car the vast majority of the time - barring Brazil and Abu Dhabi perhaps.
Bottas is the best teammate in the world according to Lewis so Zhou is already one lucky guy.
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