Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu explained following the Spanish Grand Prix how a change back to the old chassis that he started the season with has helped him ‘start fresh’ following a horrible run of form in previous events.
The chassis he had been using, was introduced at Imola and over its three race appearances, at the hands of Guanyu managed a best finish of only 15th, failing to reach Q2 in all of the three qualifications he participated in. He also crashed twice in Canada.
Placing P15 in qualifying, the driver from Shanghai had a strong race, splitting the Astons to finish P13. He had been ahead of Fernando Alonso for a good chunk of the race, too.
“I mean we changed the chassis, we changed a lot of other things and went back to the old one, the one I had at the beginning of the season.
“We just wanted to make sure that you know we’re starting all fresh, all different to the spec I had before, clearly yeah seems to be whatever is happening with the old, with the one we introduced from Imola onwards it’s just not working.”
The 25-year-old claimed poor handling over kerbs was the key flaw of the Imola-spec chassis. Going back to his old one in Spain has seen the car be a lot more smooth and responsive over the kerbs and bumps, according to the Sauber driver.
“The feeling is completely different the car’s response on the bumps, kerbs a lot more smooth than before.”
The switch of chassis was clearly an inspired decision by Sauber, as P13 in Spain was Zhou’s best Grand Prix finish since the season opener in Bahrain, where he came home P11.
Not only was it his best finish since round one, it was the first time all season he managed to advance from the first phase of qualifying.
China’s only F1 driver will be hoping these changes and getting back into a rhythm will help him stake his claim in the ever changing driver market as, with no contract for next season, Zhou could be forced to look elsewhere.
“For me, this weekend is all about getting back into the rhythm I had before, since I’m working a lot more smooth or normal let’s say.”
