Zhou received a 5 second penalty during the Sprint race
The FIA has ruled that Zhou Guanyu gained an unfair advantage during an overtake on Kevin Magnussen, which caused him to drop in the final standings.
During the Sprint race of the United States Grand Prix, an incident occurred involving Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen. The Chinese driver of Alfa Romeo left the track at turn 15, which gave him a lasting advantage when he tried to overtake Kevin Magnussen on the inside at turn 15, according to a statement from the FIA. Zhou Guanyu failed to complete the overtaking maneuver on the track and ended up leaving the track to gain this advantage.
The commissioners’ decision was to penalize Zhou Guanyu by 5 seconds due to this incident. This is a violation of Annex L, Chapter IV, Article 2 c) of the International Sporting Code and Article 33.3 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations.
They justified this decision by specifying that they had examined video evidence, timings, and onboard footage.
They also noted that Kevin Magnussen had also left the track at that time, but they concluded that this was due to Zhou Guanyu’s maneuver to prevent Kevin Magnussen from turning.
Race result, the Chinese fell from 16th to 17th place during the Sprint race, just behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas. But he will start from the 12th place for this Sunday’s Grand Prix, at 9pm, this time just ahead of the Finn.
