Clumsy miscommunication at Alfa Romeo deprives Zhou of chance for points

Guanyu Zhou lost a lot of time in the pit lane during the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix due to a miscommunication from his team. A first penalty was not properly executed, after which the Chinese received a second penalty and eventually did not move beyond eleventh place.

Bad luck for Zhou

Zhou debuted in Formula 1 in Bahrain with a points finish and could possibly have finished in the points in Saudi Arabia as well, but things went wrong during his race. On lap five, the Alfa Romeo driver passed Alexander Albon, but did so by cutting off part of the first corner. Zhou did not give the spot back and this earned him a five-second penalty.

At the next pit stop, Zhou therefore had to stop for five seconds first, but not everyone on the pit stop team was aware of this. Due to a problem with the communication equipment, the 'front jackman' did not know about the penalty. With the jack, he touched the car to lift it, but this is not allowed by the rules.

Blunder by Alfa Romeo

After touching the car, the front man realized his mistake and immediately dropped the car. However, when the tires had to be changed, he could not get the car up. The reserve front man had to take over to perform the tire change.

All this cost the team more time than a normal pit stop with a five second penalty. According to head of trackside engineering Xevi Pujolar, the team lost an additional six seconds here, he told The Race. Because the car had been touched during the pit stop, Zhou received a second penalty, despite all the time lost in the pits. The Chinese received a Drive Through Penalty and thus had to go through the entire pit lane one more time. Ultimately, this extra penalty stopped him finishing in the points for the second time.