Zhou Guanyu has admitted his approach to racing did change slightly following his crash at the 2022 British Grand Prix.
Zhou, who had secured his second consecutive Q3 appearance, was the victim of a multi-car pileup which saw him flipped into the air, narrowly avoiding injury before returning to duty a week later at the Austrian GP.
“It did a little bit, but not how I approached the weekend,” said Zhou exclusively to Total Motorsport.com. “Coming into Austria, I was trying to ensure I returned to where I was.
“But then straight after everything was new from the car and [going into] a sprint qualifying in Austria, that wasn’t an easy weekend for me, so I had to adapt.
“It was tough because we had a good run with two Q3s in a row, and everything was coming strong, but afterwards, I could return to where I was before Silverstone.”
Significant differences between 2022 and F1 2023 cars
The start of the new season has been tricky for Alfa Romeo as the team has been unable to replicate their superb start to the 2022 season.
Alfa Romeo, however, remain near the front of the midfield, scoring points in Bahrain and with AlphaTauri and McLaren losing ground as well as Williams finding speed, the fight for points is more intense.
“Yeah, I mean, there’s always quite a big difference because areas of the car always change,” says Zhou. “But teams have to adapt to the new regulations. Some teams got it right, and some haven’t.
“The midfield, from eighth to 16th, It’s so close, and you always see such a close battle in Q1. For us drivers, we just have to make sure we get every detail right.
“In [regards to] driving style, we all have to change a bit for our car. We improved some weaknesses for now, [and] I think upgrades will help and put us back in form.”
