The Chinese driver began the Saudi Arabian race in 12th place, but was quickly penalised with a five-second stop-and-go penalty.
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After a difficult Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Zhou Guanyu missed out on consecutive points finishes, the rookie having had an issue off the line before being hit with two penalties – undoing what he called a “strong” Alfa Romeo package in Jeddah. The Chinese driver began the Saudi Arabian race in 12th place, but was quickly penalised with a five-second stop-and-go penalty for passing Alex Albon off the track – and then another drive-through penalty for not serving his first one correctly. As a result, he came in 11th place, one place behind Lewis Hamilton.
“From my race, it was messy,” admitted Zhou. “I think the car was fast enough to fight for the points but a bit of [misfortune] with the start and with the drive-through penalty, that really forced us to get to a position where we could not fight for the points anymore.”
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Zhou also had the same problem as in Bahrain, where anti-stall kicked in at the start – this time as he went wheel-to-wheel with Daniel Ricciardo at the first chicane – and dropped him to P18 after the first lap in Saudi Arabia.
“It’s not ideal, definitely from the cockpit, because we had the same issue in Bahrain – so we have to investigate what happened, because we must make sure it is not happening… To keep having the same issue on Lap 1 going into last [place], it’s not ideal,” the Chinese driver said.
“But, a positive of the race – the race pace was very strong again, so from my side I think the car was fast enough to fight for the points. I had made a good recovery from P18 and we were looking strong to bring home some points again, but the drive-through put us far at the back and that was it. Let’s hope for a smoother race in Australia; the car feels good, so we can be competitive again.”
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Sergio Perez’s first career pole position was followed by the disappointment of finishing fourth in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday, a result he blamed on an inopportune Safety Car. When the lights went out at Jeddah, the Mexican made history by becoming his country’s first-ever F1 polesitter, and he hoped to follow that up with victory after leading away from Charles Leclerc. Perez pitted on Lap 15 – one lap before the race’s first Safety Car – giving his competitors the opportunity to pit on Lap 16 and emerge ahead.
