Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu aims to overcome his Canadian GP setbacks with a ‘brand-new start’ at Sunday’s 2024 Spanish GP.
Following a ‘pointless’ sprint in Montréal, the Sauber #2 is looking to rebound. He aims to achieve this with new spec changes to his C44 car. Today, he revealed his personal insights ahead of the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix.
Zhou Guanyu feels ‘completely different’ with C44’s spec change ahead of ‘brand new start’ at 2024 Spanish GP
At the 2024 Canadian GP, Zhou Guanyu continued his zero-points run with Sauber. When the FPs ended at Montréal, he consistently sat in the P17-P20 spots throughout the sessions. Matters worsened for him in the qualifiers, as he finished P20 with a 1:14.292 in Q1.
He finished the 2024 Canadian GP at P15 with a +1-lap deficit. This improvement was greatly due to the five retirements, particularly from the Ferrari and Williams pairs, during the race.
On Thursday, the 25-year-old gave an honest assessment of the team’s slump, especially over the last few race weekends. Speaking about it, he said:
“What’s missing? I think [it’s] more than the speed, it’s just the confidence that pushes the car, because obviously we put something different from Imola onwards, and from my side, I’ve really been struggling.”
Afterwards, the Chinese driver explained his car felt uncomfortable in Montreal, calling it stiff over the bumpy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. This discomfort caused him to struggle throughout the weekend, leading to two crashes that triggered red flags in FP1 and FP3. Reflecting on it, he added:
“The track is really bumpy, and I find the car is very stiff over the bumps, so I wasn’t able to push. Like, for example, the mistake I did in FP3 in Montreal, that was just really unexpected.”
Furthermore, Guanyu revealed that the team made significant changes in preparation for Barcelona, including reverting to parts from earlier in the season. He believes the current car setup limits his ability compared to earlier in the season.
“We made a lot of changes now before this weekend, in terms of just changing everything again to a different spec, making sure I get the feeling like I had at least at the beginning of the year back, because I feel completely different now to what I was able to do compared to before.”
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But now, Guanyu is optimistic about Sunday’s race, seeing it as a chance for a fresh start for his team. On this, he further added:
“I’m looking forward for this weekend, because it’s a brand-new start, it’s a bit more like starting from scratch, you know.
In terms of the [parts], everything’s the same. But it is a different spec, because you have different, let’s say, chassis numbers, floor numbers, but, again, it’s the same.”
Moreover, both Guanyu and Sauber are fully committed to ensuring he has a better experience than in the last few race weekends. He discussed his challenging outing in Canada, explaining that he had to drive conservatively due to a lack of confidence.
“So, we’re just trying to make sure I have everything different to what I just had for the last two, three races, which I’ve been really struggling with.”
“I think especially myself, on my side of the garage, like, yeah, Montreal is not a track that I’d normally be struggling that much with, but it was just crazy how much I was, I was having to underdrive myself that weekend.”
Guanyu confirms Sauber’s ‘start from scratch’ by ‘changing the aero parts’ of the C44
The new chassis received in Imola underwent meticulous tests in the simulator to restore the car to its ‘early season feel’. Zhou, a former F2 driver, noted the team found data indicating something was off.
“It’s the same car, yeah, it’s like just went back to what I used to have.”
“And other parts, just making sure we have everything that’s bolted on our car, fresh, that we don’t get caught by surprise, because, yeah, we see the issues on data.”
“I think, you don’t know exactly if the problem is just because of the chassis, so we’re changing quite a bit the aero parts, just making sure we start from scratch.”
Guanyu further explained how easy it is to lose confidence in this generation of cars. He also praised the team’s “right call” in “starting again from everything different.”
“Obviously over the past years, at least, it wasn’t really much caught by surprise, or anything happened like that.”
“I think the team did the right call, and I’m really happy that we’re, you know, starting again from everything different.”
Lastly, he compared the 2024 car to the C43, noting that the new car is much more punishing and sensitive, making his life harder.
“Obviously, with this year’s car, it’s fair to say it’s a bit more sensitive with everything, and it’s quite easy to make mistakes, that’s for sure, compared to what we had before.“
“But, I think performance, it was there, and we were there together in the mix in the early stage of the year.“
“But, of course, the race event, with different circumstances, we’ve been really struggling.”
With poor performances at Imola and Montréal, he will be entering the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to grab his first points of the season. Currently, he’s sitting at P19 of the 2024 Drivers’ Standings.
As for now, Zhou Guanyu, partnered by Valtteri Bottas, will kickstart their Spanish adventures tomorrow with the FP1 session at 13:20 PM (local time).
Photo credit: Stake F1 Team
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