'Disappointed' Zhou Guanyu Apologizes for Opening Lap Incident at Hungarian GP

After securing a career-high fifth place in qualifying on Saturday, Zhou had high hopes for a strong performance and a potential third points finish of the season. However, his race took a major setback when he experienced a slow start, causing him to drop down the field.

Zhou eventually regained momentum and began his climb back up the order. Unfortunately, during this process, he collided with the rear of Daniel Ricciardo's AlphaTauri, which subsequently led to a chain reaction involving Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly from the Alpine team.

Following the action-packed start and finishing in 16th place in Budapest, Zhou expressed his disappointment, stating, "I think [the start] was finished after the getaway. Unfortunately, something was wrong, but I don't know yet. I don't want to comment too much. But I was holding the revs and then with four lights I have to go full throttle because I had no response from the engine. Then with the lights off I had literally zero power, so I had to do a pull away. I have to release the clutch, everything. Really disappointed of course, need to see what happened, something went wrong."

Regarding his involvement in the opening lap collision, Zhou admitted, "I think I was in the dirty air before braking, and everybody bunched up. I couldn't really stop more because the front was locking. Sorry for what happened to the drivers that were caught in the collision."

Alfa Romeo had shown promising pace throughout the weekend leading up to the race. When asked if the pace was still present on Sunday, Zhou responded, "[It] was tricky. I think I had some damage in the front wing. I think some crack over there, so it's hard to make positions in this track particularly, so not a great day."

Zhou's teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was also affected by the incident at the start. Starting directly behind Zhou in seventh place, Bottas had to take evasive action to avoid colliding with his teammate. Although this put him at a disadvantage, Bottas believed that their lack of pace ultimately hindered their performance, resulting in a 12th-place finish.

"Lap 1 was a bit compromised, both of us," explained Bottas. "Zhou had some issue at the start, so I also had to go around him, so lost some momentum. Then all the cars on the soft tyre in Lap 1, they were just flying by. Then, in the end, just lacking a bit of pace. I couldn't at any point fight to go further through the grid. Not quite as good as [Saturday], but at least they take the positives from [Saturday's] pace."

When asked if they could carry the positives from their strong qualifying performance to the next race in Belgium, Bottas responded optimistically, saying, "Yeah. We unlocked something I think, a bit more of the package here. So let's see what we can do in Belgium. Obviously it's a very different type of circuit but let's see."

In conclusion, Zhou Guanyu expressed his disappointment and apologized for his involvement in the opening lap collision at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He attributed his poor start to an issue with the engine response and acknowledged the challenges he faced during the race. Despite the setback, Zhou and his teammate Bottas remain hopeful and aim to build on the positives from their strong qualifying performance as they look ahead to the upcoming race in Belgium.