Guanyu Zhou will start from the pits for the race in Melbourne
Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou ran into trouble during qualifying at Albert Park after his front wing gave way on the curbs of turn 10, relegating him to last place. Although he could have aimed for a spot in Q2, he will ultimately have to start from the pit lane due to an unauthorized wing change. A setback for Zhou who was trying to bring a better balance to his car, but had to deal with an unexpected setback at the worst moment of the weekend.
Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou faced difficulties during the qualifying session at Albert Park on Saturday, qualifying in last position due to an incident that occurred during his final fast lap. Zhou explained that he broke the left side of his front wing on the curbs at the exit of turn 10, causing the main plane of the wing to crack and the side to detach. This issue relegated him to 19th place on the grid, although he will not ultimately start from that position.
Sauber team confirmed that Zhou will have to revert to a previous specification of the front wing due to a lack of spare parts for the race in Australia. This change constitutes a breach of Parc Fermé rules, forcing Zhou to start from the pit lane for the race.
Zhou expressed his perplexity as to why his wing detached, stating: “I didn’t make a mistake on my lap, I was driving like on every lap. I got to the last sector and suddenly I lost grip, I lacked downforce and when I crossed the finish line I saw that the left side was missing. And I have no idea where it comes from, because everything was normal.”
« I watched the replay, it came from the vibration of the rumble strips in turn 10, which is very frustrating that this happened during the most important session, because I really didn’t exceed. Very disappointing, of course, otherwise it was a pretty good lap.
He emphasized that despite the incident, the new front wing had not brought a significant performance gain but aimed to improve the car’s balance. Zhou also commented: « It was not a performance gain – it is more to achieve a slightly more consistent balance. Throughout the weekend, it seemed to go, on the good side of the midfield battle. It is true that it is not easy for us this year to achieve a perfect lap, but the speed was there today, honestly. Unfortunately, it happened at the worst moment of the weekend. »
His teammate Valtteri Bottas also commented on the new wing configuration, explaining: “It’s not really magical. We are still a bit limited by rear stability at high speed, so that’s what we still need to work on. But the overall downforce is a bit better, and it provides more grip.”
