F1 star told team he 'needs new pants' after daring move almost caused high-speed smash

Zhou Guanyu admitted the moment he almost lost control of his Alfa Romeo and crashed out of the Monaco Grand Prix left him 'needing new pants'.

The rookie suffered a scary moment as he attempted an overtake on Yuki Tsunoda which saw him lose traction on a wet part of the track. He had been stuck behind his fellow Asian racer for a long time, unable to overtake on a narrow track, and so launched a daring move just before the Nouvelle Chicane.

He had hoped to move up the inside and get his nose in front before the first part of the chicane, but instead lost traction and looked for a split second as though his car was destined to meet the barriers. Remarkably, Zhou showed his ability and reaction speed to wrestle back control and save the car from spinning.

The Chinese racer was able to see the funny side as he told his team that he had given the overtake his best shot over the radio. "I need new pants after that one," he told his race engineer – clearly just relieved that he had not hit a barrier at high speed and was able to continue.

Despite his best efforts, Zhou was unable to get past Tsunoda for the rest of the race at a venue where overtaking is extremely difficult. He had fought from the back of the grid to move as high as 13th, but was 16th after the red flag caused by a huge Mick Schumacher crash and that was where he finished.

After the race, he said of the attempted overtake: "It was very damp on the inside, and there's not much slipstream you can gain. That was probably one of the closest laps behind Yuki, so I really had to dive up the inside at the last minute. Unfortunately he tried to cover a little bit, and at that moment, I tried to avoid that and hit the wet patch. That was just about keeping the car