BBC pundit feels Saudi Arabian GP qualifying ‘hard to take’ for F1 team after 24-y/o’s issues

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BBC F1 pundit Jack Aitken believes qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP will be ‘hard to take’ for Sauber after seeing their mechanics react to Zhou Guanyu failing to do a lap.

The crew in the Stake F1 Team garage rushed throughout Q1 to try and rebuild Zhou’s car on Friday. He crashed heavily during final practice at the Saudi Arabian GP earlier in the day and ruined the C44 at Turn 8. But Sauber’s quest was in vain despite Zhou getting back on track.

Zhou lost control of his car in the twisty high-speed section of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit to spin out. Spinning through the T7 right-hander initially saw the Chinese racer’s rear wing hit the wall, before pitching the nose of his C44 into the Tecpro barriers to end his running.

Sauber rushed in vain to rebuild Zhou Guanyu’s car for qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP

Sauber faced a race against time to rebuild Zhou’s car with enough left on the clock in Q1 to qualify. Their mechanics frantically fettled with the front end of his C44 to repair each of the damaged areas. But he, ultimately, left their garage without the time to complete an out lap.

Zhou only got in the C44 with five minutes left of the opening part of qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP. Yet Sauber would only release him when the clock hit 1:40 remaining which was not enough. The Shanghai native would be the first driver to take the chequered flag for Q1.

Jack Aitken feels qualifying was ‘hard to take’ after watching the Sauber mechanics react

Both Sauber cars would also bow out of qualifying in Q1, with Valtteri Bottas only able to set the 16th fastest lap time. The 34-year-old recorded a personal best lap of 1:29.179. The Finn missed out on a place in Q2 by just 0.072 seconds as Williams star Alex Albon set a 1:29.107.

But former Williams F1 reserve driver, Aitken, believes Zhou failing to attempt a flying lap in qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP would have been ‘hard’ for the Sauber mechanics to take.

“Just getting a shot at the Sauber garage now and the look on all of the mechanics faces as if to say, ‘Can you believe it? All of that work and we missed the flag by mere seconds’,” Aitken said on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra (8/3, 17:18). “That’s hard to take.”

Botts also qualified 16th at the Bahrain GP last weekend, with teammate Zhou taking 17th – only 0.001 seconds slower. Zhou improved on his qualifying position to finish the race in P11, with Bottas only 19th. But an issue with his wheel nut saw Bottas have a 52-second pit stop.