Guanyu Zhou had to retire early from the race in Japan and is hoping for an end to his run of bad luck, preferably at the upcoming home race in China
No, things are not yet going well for Guanyu Zhou in the 2024 Formula 1 season. Apart from his eleventh place at the season opener in Bahrain, the Chinese driver has yet to get off to a flying start this year. Zhou has had to start all three races from the back of the grid, and he is currently losing out to team-mate Valtteri Bottas
However, technical problems with the car or the equipment also repeatedly hinder the Chinese driver. In qualifying in Melbourne, the front wing simply broke off, and Sauber’s horrendous pit stops deprive the drivers of any chance of scoring points in the race.
Zhou also experienced an extremely frustrating weekend in Suzuka, which ended with a retirement. “I had a gearbox problem,” he explains. “Just three or four laps before my pit stop, I noticed something burning on the gearbox and engine, and suddenly I lost gearbox synchronization. And that was it.”
His Sauber team, on the other hand, is talking about a problem with the drivetrain, but this still needs to be investigated in more detail. “We don’t know the root of the problem yet,” says chief engineer Xevi Pujolar.
“It’s a shame, because he had a strong start and good first laps,” says team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi. “Even though he wasn’t directly involved in the fight for points at the time, his strong pace would have been helpful for the team to maximize the outcome of our strategy.”
However, the problem in the race was not the first for Zhou at the weekend in Japan. A fuel leak on his Sauber C44 had already occurred in the third practice session, which meant he was unable to prepare properly for qualifying and once again only finished last
Zhou hopes for a problem-free weekend
Sauber swapped Zhou’s chassis overnight, but he only completed twelve laps in the race and still has no points to his name after four races.
“It’s just frustrating,” he complains. “In Jeddah it was the pit stop, in Melbourne the wing collapsed and now this,” said Zhou. “A few unfortunate things just happen. I’m unlucky and quite disappointed. I hope we have a clean weekend sooner rather than later and that I can shake off the bad luck.”
But: “At the moment I’m just not confident enough that it will go smoothly. “
“With the team trackside and back at the factory, we’ll investigate our issues and work on them to be in a better position, so I’ll be fighting for points at home in China.” – @ZhouGuanyu24 JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/KqighvsRCU
– Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber (@stakef1team_ks) April 7, 2024
However, Sauber is confident that the problems will be solved by the next race – and the pit stops should also work at some point. The racing team was also able to test for Pirelli for two more days in the days after Suzuka, with Valtteri Bottas completing a total of 282 laps.
“Even if the test is blind, we drive the car,” says Pujolar positively. “And everyone at the factory is working hard to understand the problems. And we have enough time before Shanghai to find a solution. “
Home race the most important race for Zhou
The upcoming race is a very special one, at least for Zhou, as it is his first home race in China after the race had to be repeatedly removed from the calendar in previous years.
He is hoping to turn the tide right there. “I’m obviously still disappointed about what happened, but I’m looking forward to this race. This is the race that is most important to me,” emphasizes Zhou.
“I want to finish the race and if I can do that, then I see no reason why I shouldn’t fight for points. The car should perform,” he says. “We just have to get it right. “