At the end of qualifying, Charles Leclerc admitted his amazement at seeing Alfa Romeo finish in fifth position and revealed that, at least initially, he hadn’t believed the simulations carried out by Ferrari which saw the Alfa Romeo team competitive on the flying lap.
However, a certain optimism reigned at Alfa Romeo ahead of Saturday, so much so that both drivers had explained that they were aiming for access to Q3. A confidence that could also be seen in the way they managed the tires on the first day of practice, leaving aside three sets of soft tires to exploit between FP3 and the last qualifying heat. A choice opposite to that of teams such as AlphaTauri and Williams who, knowing their limits on this track, had decided to focus on harder compounds.
The big surprise was Zhou Guanyu, with the Chinese driver who has often been capable of high-level exploits when he feels the ideal feeling with the car, as already demonstrated on other occasions during both this and the previous championship. The Alfa Romeo standard bearer managed to put all the pieces together to conquer a beautiful fifth position, with which he was also able to get behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was amazed by the potential of the C43 on Hungarian soil.
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C43
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Unlike other rounds, where the Swiss team had encountered a few more difficulties in finding the set-up, this weekend the crucial aspect was to arrive with a set-up that worked well from the start, allowing the team to focus on the details on a friendly track: “I think that for the whole qualifying session or for the whole weekend, right from the first session, the team has given me a very competitive car”
“Then they gave me great feedback in all aspects of riding, which allowed me to explore my limits very early on. The result was not luck, but true skill and true speed [della vettura]. It means a lot to me, definitely my best Saturday so far, and I hope I can have the best Sunday tomorrow,” Zhou explained.
Observing the telemetric data, it emerges that the Swiss car actually performed well in the sections where it was expected to be competitive, such as the slow areas, albeit with a different approach from Charles Leclerc which does not do justice in the graphs. However, on the contrary, in the faster and smoother sections such as curve 5 and curve 9, what are still the limits of the C43 emerged, even if it showed some good indications in curve 11, a section where instead the Ferrari struggled throughout the weekend.
![Comparison between Zhou and Leclerc in qualifying for the Hungarian GP](https://cdn-2.motorsport.com/images/mgl/0k7RWD80/s1000/confronto-leclerc-zhou-qualifi-1.jpg)
Comparison between Zhou and Leclerc in qualifying for the Hungarian GP
Photo by: Gianluca D’Alessandro
Recently, Alfa Romeo has regularly introduced new components to the C43, including a new underbody at Silverstone which, however, was intended to help improve performance in high-speed corners rather than slow sections. On a circuit that, at least on paper, seemed more suited to the characteristics of the C43, which throughout the year suffered from fast corners due to a chronic lack of aerodynamic load, compensated here by being able to load the wings to the maximum without losing too much on the straight.
Bottas explained that he expected the car to be more competitive than it was in Britain, where neither driver had made it through the first heat, but admitted he was surprised by such a big jump on the grid. “Based on a little feeling with the car, I said that the weekend would be better than Silverstone. Instead it’s much better. I didn’t expect it, but we gladly accept it!” said the Finn.
“I think we need to learn something about the new package and set-up, the ride height isn’t optimised, but we’re positively surprised at how fast we were, and indeed in all the different parts [del giro] it seemed to be so. I think this track brings out our best features. Also, usually in the straight we lose, while here there is only one straight.
![Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C43](https://cdn-6.motorsport.com/images/mgl/6l9jLEx0/s1000/valtteri-bottas-alfa-romeo-c43-1.jpg)
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C43
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
The team had a clean weekend, with a correct set up, so everything went in the right direction. And when it comes to tenths or cents to be out or in Q3, those things matter. So it was a really solid day,” added the rider from Nastola.
Bottas already had positive sensations after free practice, but he began to believe in it concretely after the feedback obtained in free practice, when they started to feel the feeling with the softer compounds: “In free practice three I finished tenth, but with an engine mode that was not that of qualifying. I knew it was all right, we found something. So I told Andreas [Seidl] that today we will be in the top seven. So a pretty good forecast. I’m sorry I wasn’t allowed to make bets, because I could have made some good money!”
#Alfa #Romeo #expectations #confidence