It is not yet a weekend to remember for Guanyu Zhou. The Chinese driver, following a good qualifying, was the only one to say goodbye prematurely to the Sprint due to a contact with Pierre Gasly.
Problems on the C42, mechanics at work
The accident cost the new Alfa Romeo driver dearly. In fact, when analyzing the car, the engineers noticed problems with both the front and rear wings. The Alfa Romeo mechanics were forced to work for a long time on his C42, not respecting the curfew and parc fermé conditions. For these reasons the FIA stewards had to intervene, penalizing Zhou. The Chinese driver, who should have already started from the last box on the grid, will start from the pit lane.
Violated article 40.9
A decision taken in full compliance with the regulation, as stated in the FIA press release: “Car number 24 was involved in a collision and suffered significant damage during the Sprint session. In repairing the car after the race Srpint violated article 40.6 of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations as the car used during the Sprint Qualifying was not covered and ready for the FIA seals within two hours of the end of the session. Furthermore, in violation of Article 40.9, work continued on the car without supervision while it was in parc fermé conditions. The competitor admitted that modifications had been made to the car. In any case, given the lack of supervision, the Stewards would have been entitled to assume that modifications have been made to the car and/or changes have been made to the suspension set-up, while the car should have been kept in closed park. The penalty for violating parc ferme conditions is specified in article 40.9 b, which is for the driver to start from the pitlane. We have therefore imposed the sanction provided for by article 40.9 b”.
SOURCE: Motorsport.com