Zhou Guanyu admits of tough F1 2024 season due to various factors with the car, but he also knows that one has to perform with whatever one has in his pocket.
It has been an on and off F1 career so far for Guanyu. He has been decent enough for Kick Sauber, who have had a difficult journey in this period. They are awaiting Audi takeover which has made things complicated for them, especially in the current season.
When the car was decent at the start of the year, they were troubled due to the pit stop problems and after that was fixed, the car didn’t live upto the expectations. They are yet to score a point, where both Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas have come close to scoring one.
Both Bottas and Guanyu have lost their F1 seat after Sauber decided to take in Gabriel Bortoleto for the second seat alongside the already confirmed Nico Hulkenberg. The Chinese racer is now looking at various options.
He admits, though, of a tough season that he has had in 2024 so far. While acknowledging that, he also accepts that whatever the car be, the driver has to be consistent which he hasn’t been able to. “I mean, it’s been real tough, because I still remember… because it just felt a lot better the first few races of the season,” said Guanyu about the year.
“Of course, we struggled with other things in the pit, but when the car was actually performed quite competitively together with the people around the midfield battle, you really felt you can show what you are gaining or what you learned, experience over the course of two and a half years, that you are getting better experience, better knowledge with everything, and also get more understanding about what you need to go quicker.
“But then, in that period right now, it’s quite difficult, of course, to accept as a driver. But in the same time, I think you do the best you can, you kind of, you’re out in Q1 or you are just struggling to get through that. And sometimes you’re missing, like, half… Sometimes you’re missing like half a second to the cut-off, which sometimes is difficult to explain exactly, purely on driving.
“So it’s a tough season, but you only got what you have, so I’m still trying to give everything I’ve got for the remaining races. And like I said, I care about my future, I care about wanting to stay in F1 as long as I could, so I’m fighting for that,” summed up Guanyu, who will only get a reserve option at the moment, with rumours of Ferrari doing rounds.
Here’s Gabriel Bortoleto being announced at Sauber
Here’s Sauber-Audi announcing departure of Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu
Here’s news on Sauber hiring
Here’s Christian Horner on giving up Jonathan Wheatley
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