Formula 1: Zhou Guanyu hopes to shake off a frustrating start to Monaco GP and ‘salvage a good result’
- A chaotic Saturday afternoon session, strewn with red flags and incidents, means the Alfa Romeo F1 rookie will need a strong comeback in Sunday’s race
- Charles Leclerc secured pole position for his home Monaco Grand Prix with a sigh of relief after a dramatic qualifying session
A messy qualifying session has left Chinese F1 rookie Zhou Guanyu at the back of the field for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, with hopes quickly fading for a top 10 finish.
“It’s a very frustrating and disappointing result,” said Zhou, having finished P20 after failing to secure a time for the last two qualifying sessions.
“It hasn’t been the smoothest weekend so far, but I am confident we can get together and figure out a way forward with the team. We’ll go out and try to salvage a good result.”
Zhou was just metres away from setting a solid time in the first qualifying session when a red flag was hoisted, invalidating his lap. At the restart, he found himself bottled behind a queue of cars preventing him from another attempt.
“The red flag coming out just seconds before I finished my lap meant I was the only one who couldn’t set a time with the second set of tyres and, on a street circuit like Monaco, with strong track evolution, I never stood a chance with the first lap,” he said.
“The slow exit from the pitlane of the cars in front of me when we got a green flag again meant I couldn’t get another attempt and that was it.”
The all-important front-row start for Sunday’s race will go to hometown hero Charles Leclerc, who sealed his third consecutive pole position to lead a Ferrari front row lockout alongside teammate Carlos Sainz.
Sergio Perez came in third for Red Bull, ahead of teammate Max Verstappen in fourth.
