Zhou Guanyu’s had plenty of ups and downs in his burgeoning Formula 1 career.
The Chinese driver is entering his third season in the sport and ahead of his home Grand Prix in Shanghai, only has 12 career points to his name.
The 24-year-old was speaking on the Beyond The Grid Podcast about the toughest weekend in his F1 career.
After four races this season, Zhou Guanyu is still yet to get off the mark in the driver’s championship.
His teammate Valtteri Bottas is in a similar boat as Sauber are one of the five teams battling it out for a single point when a driver from a top team retires or Lance Stroll has a bad weekend.
Pit stops are a huge problem for Sauber but the car is still one of the slowest on the grid.
However, that wasn’t always the case last year and Sauber – or Alfa Romeo as they were called in 2023 – had a few decent races.
Unfortunately, reliability was a big issue and Zhou has now shared which weekend went from being ‘perfect’ to the ‘worst day’ of his life.
He’ll be looking forward to returning to this circuit in 2024 and hope that he at least makes it onto the grid this time around.
Sauber star Zhou Guanyu shares his ‘worst day’ in Formula 1
Talking about one race in particular last year, Zhou said: “Yeah it was tough, [that race at the] Hungaroring, it was a very mixed feeling because I had a perfect Saturday and Sunday, it was like the worst day of my life.
“That feeling was maybe worse than P10 and then you have a reliability issue because I was out of control before the lights go off.
“My engine kicked into this auto-safe mode which switched off all my revs before the start and I had nothing to do, I was just standing still and do a whole procedure which was too late for the original start and I was last before even the green lights.
“So, things like that I think I had a lot of moments in Formula 1, a lot of frustrations but I’m just grateful to still be here, still have time to prove myself and still can continue to work hard and develop some results.”
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Zhou Guanyu laments bad luck at 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix
It’s easy to understand why Zhou thought last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix was the worst day of his career thus far.
Alfa Romeo were suddenly one of the fastest cars on the grid during qualifying on Saturday.
So much so, that Zhou topped the timing charts at the end of Q1, with Mercedes’s George Russell and Williams’s Alex Albon both eliminated in that session.
Both Alfa Romeo cars then made it into the top ten shootout with Carlos Sainz one of the drivers unable to make it that far.
Zhou then beat his teammate to start fifth but also qualified ahead of Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez.
However, Zhou’s mechanical fault on the grid saw him swamped by the onrushing field and after locking his brakes, he tapped the back of Daniel Ricciardo’s car who then took out both Alpines.
Zhou eventually finished 16 while his teammate also couldn’t score points from his lofty position on the grid.
What’s next for Zhou Guanyu in Formula 1?
Zhou will hope that the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix is the worst day of his Formula 1 career, but he needs to do more to make sure he’s on the grid next year.
Sauber will become Audi in 2026 and are looking at their options in the driver market.
When the likes of Carlos Sainz are available, it’s difficult for Zhou to prove he’s the right driver to take the team forward.
However, a strong showing at his home Grand Prix will do his chances no harm at all.
The post ‘It was tough’: Zhou Guanyu explains how ‘perfect’ 2023 race weekend turned into the ‘worst day’ of his life appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
