Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu admitted he was “glad” the 2023 Formula 1 season was over after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix proved to be another difficult race for him and the team.
Zhou lined up 19th on the grid for the Abu Dhabi GP, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas having qualified just one place higher as both cars exited in the first segment.
Come the chequered flag, Zhou crossed the line in 17th place with Bottas 19th, and the Chinese driver admitted there was little on offer throughout the entirety of the race.
“Yeah, didn’t do anything wrong, had a good start against opposition, but then the pace while everybody settled, we just started sliding backwards” he said.
“So, unfortunately, it is how it is this year. Glad it’s finished, it’s been a very long, tough season.”
Bottas was also despondent with the team’s race on Sunday at Yas Marina after enduring the consequences of an uncompetitive one-stop strategy.
“It was quite uneventful, obviously no safety cars and just ultimately the one-stop, didn’t really work for us,” he added.
“We just couldn’t keep the tyres in the shape, especially that medium tyre at the end started to grain and that’s why the pace was pretty slow. Even when the tyres were ok, the pace wasn’t quite there today.”
Both Alfa Romeo drivers have had to endure a tough and uncompetitive season, with the team ending the year ninth in the Constructors’ standings on just 16 points.
Zhou’s last scoring result came with ninth in Qatar, with two more ninth places in Spain and Australia. Bottas also failed to add to his tally after an eighth-place finish in Qatar.
Both drivers were well aware that a lack of car development was the root cause for the poor form, particularly towards the end of the season.
“Let’s say our main rivals from the beginning of the season, they were able to just change massively, probably introduce a new car or B car over the season and made a very good step forward,” Zhou said.
“Obviously, we knew we were going to get that plan for next season. So this year was more about suffering the last few races.”
“The main thing is we need a new car and it needs to be different,” added Bottas. “So that’s, I would say the biggest take we take from this year.
“Clearly we’ve hit the end with this car’s development, we just haven’t been able to find anything big. So the whole concept needs to be different.”
In November, Alfa Romeo Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi confirmed that the C43’s successor will be a “completely new car” and Bottas is happy with what he’s seen so far.
“I’m happy because there’s differences,” the Finnish driver said. “I think that’s what we need.”
Alfa Romeo has less than 100 days to find out whether 2024 will be a more promising showing than 2023 proved to be by the end of the season at the Yas Marina Circuit.
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