Alfa Romeo always struggles with starts
The Alfa Romeo drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, had complained about startup issues with the C42 in Bahrain, and the situation did not improve in Saudi Arabia.
A few months after his departure from Mercedes, the Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas found his way back to scoring points at the Bahrain Grand Prix by finishing 6th. However, he had previously revealed that he had a difficult start with the C42, as he experienced vibrations in the third gear and a lack of grip in the first lap.
A week later, the Alfa Romeo suffered from the same problem. In Saudi Arabia, the vibrations, although less significant, were still present at the start of the race. But it was a completely different issue that deprived the Finnish driver of half of the Grand Prix. In Jeddah, the former Mercedes driver was in ninth position when a technical failure forced him to stop, which greatly disappointed Bottas.
« Now we know that we have a 50% chance of finishing the race, so it’s really not good. We need to work on it. » the Finnish driver confided before adding a touch of positivity. « We have taken another step forward in terms of performance compared to the previous race, even in terms of the start. ».
His teammate, rookie Guanyu Zhou also scored his first points in Bahrain, but did not have the opportunity to repeat the feat the following week. In Saudi Arabia, the Chinese driver received a five-second penalty after an overtaking maneuver outside of the rules on Alexander Albon. However, a confusion in the pits caused a second, more severe penalty, depriving him of additional points as he finished eleventh in Jeddah.
