The Monaco Grand Prix didn’t produce the most exciting race but it did reveal some interesting dynamics about the drivers on the grid.
Monaco rewards the brave in qualifying as was shown last Sunday when the cars in the top ten all finished the race where they started.
Jolyon Palmer was assessing the race on Formula 1’s official YouTube channel and one driver failed to impress the former Renault star.
Monaco is always a very difficult race for any driver who starts near the back of the grid.
With overtaking almost impossible to pull off and the early red flag removing much of the uncertainty around strategy, it became a bit of a procession.
However, Palmer wasn’t impressed by the performance of Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu in Monaco.
He was miles off the pace in qualifying compared to teammate Valtteri Bottas, let alone the rest of the grid.
His poor start was also the reason Carlos Sainz ended up finishing on the podium.
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Jolyon Palmer unimpressed with Sauber driver Zhou Guanyu in Monaco
It’s been a very difficult season for both Sauber drivers and after eight race weekends, they’re the only manufacturer who hasn’t scored a point.
With Audi’s takeover imminent, the futures of both of their drivers is under real scrutiny.
Nico Hulkenberg has already been signed up for 2025 from Haas and incoming team principal Andreas Seidl wants Carlos Sainz to join him.
If they can’t sign the Spaniard, then there’s a long list of other drivers that they’re considering, including free agent Esteban Ocon.
This spells bad news for Bottas and Zhou and the Finn is making it very clear he’s on the lookout for a new seat.
Bottas has been in talks with his old team Williams and already outlined his contract demands to several other teams on the grid.
This leaves Zhou Guanyu in a difficult position and Palmer doesn’t think he did himself any favours in Monaco.
Although he was in the slowest car on the grid, he was still half a second behind Bottas.
He then got trapped at the back of the field after the start and because he didn’t enter sector two, the grid for the restart reflected the initial start order, rather than the positions each driver was in when the red flag was flown.
That meant Sainz was promoted back to 3 after he had stopped after four corners due to a puncture.
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Zhou Guanyu had a weekend to forget in Monaco
Reviewing the Monaco Grand Prix, Palmer said: “Let’s finally have a look at how [Carlos] Sainz managed to get back to 3 place and the key man here is Zhou [Guanyu] in the Sauber who had a very odd non-racing weekend.
“For Sauber, he was miles off the pace, both Saubers were nowhere and Zhou in the race didn’t seem too interested in getting embroiled in any scraps.
“One Haas already coming through [before turn one], [Nico] Hulkenberg and [Kevin] Magnussen straight past him at the start and now he’s at the back of the field.”
Zhou and Bottas will both hope that Sauber’s car is better suited to the track in Canada than it was to the streets of Monte Carlo.
Bottas at least showed that overtaking was possible, while Zhou couldn’t even finish ahead of Logan Sargeant despite the American driving a Williams covered in old parts.
There have even been suggestions for Zhou to be replaced before the end of the season and there are few drivers who need to score a point as desperately as the 52-race driver.
The post ‘Miles off the pace’: Jolyon Palmer believes 52-race driver ‘didn’t seem’ interested at the Monaco GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.