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via Imago

via Imago

Alfa Romeo Racing had a great qualifying session to start the 2022 season. While Valtteri Bottas finished P6, the debutant Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou finished P15 in his first-ever F1 qualifying.

The Chinese driver, who was thrilled to get through to Q2 on his first attempt in the car, took to social media to express his joy. He even got praise from his teammate Bottas for his performance in the qualifying session.

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“WHATTTT!?!? Q2!? YESSS!” said Zhou.

Valtteri replied, “Well done, mate! First one done.”

The Chinese driver, who was over the moon with the praise from his teammate, replied, “Thanks Valterri! What a lap by you!” 

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Can Alfa Romeo and Valtteri Bottas challenge in the race?

With the Finnish driver starting the race in the top 6, the team would hope to secure as many points as it can on Sunday. If everything falls into place, then there is a possibility of a podium for Alfa Romeo.

Bottas is confident that there is enough free space in the car to challenge on Sunday, but he also pointed out some weaknesses as well.

via Imago

“Our weakness is in the fast corners, like Turn 6 and Turn 7 and we also seem to be sliding a bit more in Turn 12, so we’re struggling with the rear grip on the higher speed corners. So, our strength is in low speed and the area where we have more work to do is in high speed,” said Valtteri.

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If Zhou can somehow get himself in the race and in the top 10, then it would be the perfect scenario for the team. The Chinese driver would hope that he gets a decent start and avoids trouble on the first corner.

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It is equally important for the team that Bottas makes an excellent start and gets a jump on the drivers ahead. Despite their impressive showing in qualifying, the team might be behind big hitters like Red Bull and Ferrari in terms of pure pace.

However, as anything can happen on race day, Bottas and Zhou just need to drive clean races and stay out of trouble in the Bahrain Grand Prix.