At the Canadian GP, Guanyu Zhou experienced the darkest chapter of his Formula 1 career. He threw the car into the wall twice during practice. In qualifying and the race, the 25-year-old was a distant last. But the problem that reached its peak in Montreal is already older.
No trust at all over bumps: Sauber simply turns away
“Honestly, I think for me it’s more than just speed. It’s the confidence in driving the car, because obviously something has changed since Imola. From my side, I really struggled. The track was very bumpy and I find that the car is very stiff over the bumps, so I couldn’t push,” said the Chinese ahead of the Spanish GP.
“The mistake I made in FP3 in Montreal, for example, was very unexpected. Suddenly you hit the bumps and the car just spins away,” he continued to complain. The result was that he no longer dared to push himself to the limit after that: “Montreal is not a track that I normally struggle with so much. It was just crazy how much I had to push myself this weekend.” In fact, his best career result in Canada is eighth place in the 2022 season.
Comparison with Valtteri Bottas shows: Old Zhou chassis causes no problems
He did not want to reveal what exactly this was all about. However, the consequences and the comparison with teammate Valtteri Bottas are clear: “I don’t want to go into further detail, but as I said, the bumps I felt and the way the car was pushed off are a bit more extreme than what is happening on the other side of the garage.” The Finn is driving the 03 chassis, which Zhou used in the first races. Back then, he said, he had not had any such problems.
Chassis change the solution? Answer probably only in Austria
The solution is obvious: the problem chassis number 04 will be sorted out. In Barcelona, Zhou wants a complete fresh start: “It’s like I’m just going to go back to what I was used to.” He has asked his team to do a lot of work: “I’m really happy that we managed it, because it’s not easy for the team to pull it off. But I think if we go for it, hopefully it’s the right decision that can only make things better.” The decision to do this was already made on Saturday during the race weekend in Canada, which only underlines Zhou’s crisis even more.
Although the Chinese driver was definitely closer to his teammate before the introduction of the suspect chassis in Imola, there is no certainty now either. He admits that the car was tricky before: “With this car, everything is a bit more sensitive and it is quite easy to make mistakes.” In addition, Barcelona is a track with completely different characteristics to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Whether the chassis change has solved the problem of the bumps will probably only become clear a week later: “We will have to wait and see when we get to Austria, where braking is a bit bumpier.”