Abstract: A flat steel product having a steel substrate and a protective coating having zinc as its main constituent that has been applied to the steel substrate by hot dip coating and produced by a subsequent galvannealing treatment, wherein the protective coating has pores on its free surface that extend into the protective coating. In the flat steel product, the proportions of right-skewed measurement traces determined in a topographic study are predominant over the proportion of non-right-skewed measurement traces both in the measurement direction and transverse to the measurement direction. Right-skewed measurement traces are determined by comparing the mean ascertained for each measurement trace with the median ascertained therefor. Those measurement traces where the mean is greater than the median are classified as being right-skewed.