Sauber’s Zhou set for Australian GP pitlane start

Zhou Guanyu will launch his Australian GP on Sunday from the pitlane at Albert Park after his Sauber’s front wing was damaged  in qualifying.

Given the Swiss outfit’s lack of spares, the incident has forced the Swiss outfit to revert to a previous-spec front wing, which equates to a breach of Parc Fermé rules and a pitlane start for Zhou.

Following his mishap, the Chinese driver was left stranded in Q1 in 19th position while teammate Valtteri Bottas gained access to Q2 and will launch his race from P13 on the grid.

Zhou was at a loss to explain why the Sauber’s front wing had failed as he breezed through Albert Park’s Turn 10, insisting he had taken his usual line through the corner.

• 2024 Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying results

"I didn't do a mistake on my lap, I was just driving like every single other lap I did," he explained, quoted by motorsport.com.

"I got to the last sector and suddenly I'm locking up, I'm missing this load and when I crossed the finish line I saw the left-hand side was missing.

“And I have no idea where that came from, because everything was just normal.

"I watched the replay, it came from the vibration wherever from the kerb of Turn 10, which is very frustrating to be happening in the most important session, because I didn't really go wide.

“Very disappointing, of course, otherwise it was a pretty good lap."

Zhou admitted that the new-spec front wing had not delivered a significant performance benefit to his C44 but helped generate a more “consistent balance”.

"It wasn't like a performance gain - it is more getting a bit more consistent balance," he added.

"Throughout the weekend it seemed to be OK, on the upper side of the midfield battle.

"It is true it is not easy for us this year to get a perfect lap, but the pace was there today, honestly. Unfortunately, it's happened in the worst place of the weekend."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter