The English translation of Muhammad Abu Zahra's biography of Abu Hanifa includes his analysis of Shia beliefs as follows;
"The separation of the Shi'a from the body of the Muslims was political origin and turned on the matter of how the khalif of the Muslims should have been decided upon. Their difference with based on two things. Firstly, the khalifate was majority was matter to be decided, not by the community as a whole, but by specific appointment. The khaliphate is the pillar of the Deen and the rule of Islam and, in their view, it was inconceivable that the Prophet would have ignored it and left it up to the community to decide. The khalifa must have been specified for them and was protected from major and minor wrong actions. Secondly, and following from that, they maintained that 'Ali was the khalifa chosen by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and was the best of the Companions".
Abu Hanifa, his life, opinion and Fiqh -Abu Zahra (English) // Edn. Maktabah Publishers.
The author failed to translate the next paragraph that appears in its entirety in the Urdu translation:
"it is imperative to highlight that that view that Ali (as) was the most superior Sahaba was not exclusively a Shia position, some Sahaba shared the viewpoint, and their names are worth mentioning : Miqdad ibn Aswad, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Salman al-Farsi, Jabir ibn Abd Allah, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Hudhaifa, Buriada, Ayyub, Sahl Bin Hanif, Uthman bin Hanifa, Abu l-Haytham, Hudhaifa bin Thabit, Abu At-Tufail Amir bin Wathilah, Abbas bin Abd al-Muttalib and Banu Hashim were this group. In the beginning, Zubair held this view but charged it later. Among the Ummayads, only a few people held this view, such as Khālid ibn Saʿīd ibn al-ʿĀṣ and Umar bin Abdul Aziz"
Iman Azam - Abu Zahra (Urdu) // Page 184
Clearly, the English translators' omission of this text was to present viewpoint that a belief that Imam Ali (as) was the most superior of the Sahaba was alien to mainstream Sunnism. Abu Zahra sought to set the record straight by evidencing the fact that certain Sahaba had the same view. This, admission was clearly unpalatable for the dishonest translator!
