Alfa Romeo's Zhou: 'Nice to see my name up there'

Zhou Guanyu concluded his 2023 pre-season testing in Bahrain on a high note, the Alfa Romeo charger owning Friday's session thanks to setting the quickest lap of the day.

Zhou took advantage of a set of Pirelli soft C5 tyres, and perhaps of a very light fuel load, to knock Red Bull's Max Verstappen off his pedestal in the latter part of the session.

The Chinese driver was also Alfa's sole representative on Friday, with teammate Valtteri Bottas handling the Swiss outfit's workload on the final day of running on Saturday.

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"We are well aware this is testing, of course, and everyone is trying different settings, but it feels nice to see my name and that of the team up there in the timing sheets," commented a smiling Zhou.

"It’s been a positive day overall, we got more mileage in and went through all the targets and tasks we had set for ourselves, so I can say I am happy."

Running unabated all day through Alfa's various programmes eventually encouraged Zhou to up the pace and attempt a flyer under Bahrain's floodlights.

"The car felt reasonably good, both in daytime and night-time conditions, and I felt more confident pushing as the day progressed," he said.

"Today was the final day of pre-season testing for me, and I am very much looking forward to the start of the season next week.

"I feel ready and excited about the new campaign and I can’t wait to be racing again."

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