Zhou sets the bar high: 'Going to fight McLaren or Aston Martin'

Guanyu Zhou went like a rocket in his Alfa Romeo during qualifying for the 2023 Hungary GP. The Chinese conquered P5 and immediately set the bar high for Sunday's race. He hopes to take on McLaren or Aston Martin.

Suddenly Alfa Romeo is among very different teams. Rivals Haas and Williams are far behind Zhou, who starts from P5, and Valtteri Bottas, who also made Q3 and starts from P7. With both Alfa Romeo's in the top ten, it seems the car is indeed fast on the Hungaroring. Zhou is ecstatic after his best ever qualifying performance in F1.

Zhou needs to beat big teams for points

Speaking to Spain's DAZN, he says: "Everything was in the window of getting better and better, run after run. It's not easy with the tyre allocation, but I felt comfortable. The car gave us a good car and on that last lap of Q3, I had nothing left, so happy for that fifth place."

That one good session gives Zhou courage as he hopes for a good battle with the front-runners. The aim is to finish in the points with both cars as well, and for that you have to compete against some big teams. Zhou: "I think we can fight, let's say with the Aston [Martins], and with the McLarens, but realistically speaking, we have Ferrari and a Red Bull behind. Maybe we can't keep them at bay, but our target is to score points, compared to our rival starting behind us."