Guanyu Zhou will start from the pits in Melbourne

As he launched into his last attempt in Q1, Zhou lost most of the left part of its front wing. The aerodynamic appendage gave way when passing the curb at turn 10, without the Sauber being any wider than in the previous laps.

A rough break for Zhou as his front wing gets chewed up and spat out exiting Turn 10 😵#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/MzxgVFx4v8

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 23, 2024

As a result of the races, Zhou only set the 19th fastest time in qualifying, relegating him to the last row of the starting grid. A frustrating performance for the teammate Valtteri Bottas, who could have progressed to Q2 if he had managed to maintain the same level of performance as at the start of his lap.

“I took the kerb, and suddenly pieces of the front wing flew off! Before that, I was more than five tenths ahead [on my time], that would have given the same time as Valtteri. It's very frustrating to no longer have a front wing on the last sector! I didn't make a mistake on the trick, but it looks like this vibrator is very demanding », he explained to the official Formula 1 website.

Ultimately, Zhou will not start from the grid, but from the pit lane. Indeed, he presented himself in Melbourne with a new front wing. The latter, rather beneficial in terms of general balance rather than performance, was not available as spare parts. Sauber must therefore resort to an old specification, different from the one used this weekend. As stipulated in the regulations, this therefore breaks the rules of Parc Fermé, and car no. 24 must therefore start from the pit lane.

Not enough to entirely dampen the hopes of the Chinese driver, who believes he has a good race pace. The sometimes quite chaotic nature of the races at Melbourne's Albert Park is also a source of hope for the Sauber team resident.

“We had the pace for Q2, the top 15, over one lap. And I think we're not far behind in race pace either. It's difficult to go far away like that, but historically there are opportunities here. First, we will try to understand why this problem occurred in qualifying. »

Bottas aims for points

On the other side of the garage, Valtteri Bottas posted an encouraging performance, with 13th place on the grid. Present for the first time of the year in Q2, the Finn notes the improvement compared to the first two rounds of the year.

“A little better today, it's still not the position we want to be in, but it's better than in the first two races. We entered Q2 for the first time this year! I think on Sunday we can fight with the cars around us, it's positive to see gains. »

The objective for this Australian Grand Prix is ​​now clear: “We're not far from the top 10, so scoring a point or two has to be the goal for Sunday. »

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