Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou will start the Australian Grand Prix from the pitlane after breaking his front wing during qualifying at Albert Park.
Zhou qualified last at Albert Park on Saturday after he broke the left-hand side of his front wing on the Turn 10 exit kerbs on his final flyer, with the main plane cracking and the endplate eventually breaking off. At the time, Zhou was on course to be a contender for Q2, running at a similar pace to team-mate Valtteri Bottas who advanced.
Instead, the Chinese driver qualified 19th and last following the withdrawal of Williams' Logan Sargeant, but he won't take up that place on the starting grid. Sauber has confirmed to Motorsport.com that Zhou has to go back to a previous front wing specification as the team didn't bring any spares of the new wing to Australia. That change of spec is a breach of parc ferme rules, meaning he is set to start Sunday's race from the pitlane. Zhou said he had no idea why the wing broke off as he took the usual line through Turn 10. 'I didn't do a mistake on my lap, I was just driving like every single other lap I did,' he explaine
Zhou Australian Grand Prix Pitlane Front Wing Qualifying