There was a case of deja vu for Kick Sauber during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix when the team again suffered a slow pit stop, marking the second consecutive race in which they experienced a pit issue.
Zhou Guanyu had been one of four drivers who remained on the track amid an early safety car as the race unfolded in Jeddah, before becoming the last car in the field to pit on lap 43 of 50. Unfortunately a problem with a cross threaded wheel. Nut resulted in a prolonged stoppage, causing Zhou to fall to the back of the field behind teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas having suffered a similar problem Last time in Bahrain, Zhou admitted that it was disappointing for the team that this happened again.
“Everything was going well [in the race]Zhou later explained. “Difficult race at the beginning, managing the engine a lot. [temperature]. So [I had] Very fast pace in the mediums, considering how much I have to take off due to the temperature.
“After that pit stop, unfortunately it’s all over. It’s frustrating, of course, that it’s already happened to us twice as a team. We need to improve, that’s clear, and yes, the race was basically over after that.”
“We need to improve, that’s clear” – Zhou pessimistic after tough race for Kick Sauber
While there were positives for Zhou and the team from the weekend in Saudi Arabia, barring an accident on Friday Free practices 3 session – the Chinese driver admitted that it was still too difficult to make up ground in the race after the delayed pit stop.
“For my part, I think that this weekend, of course, with the mistake in FP3 [it was] committed, but it seems to be on my side [that] “The art of racing, everything, has improved enormously compared to the last few years, which is good,” he added.
WATCH: Zhou’s heavy crash raises red flags during FP3 in Saudi Arabia
“But still, when we lost a lot in the pit stop, it’s very difficult to recover.”
It was also a difficult day for Bottas. The Finn opted to start the race on the soft tyre, but struggled to make his strategy work after switching to the hard compound, resulting in another pit stop later on for softer tyres.
While this improved the car’s performance, Bottas lost too much time and finished the Grand Prix just ahead of his teammate in P17.
‘It’s a concern for sure’: Bottas pressures Kick Sauber to fix ‘critical issue’ after another pit stop issue
“Tough race. We didn’t have the pace that we really expected and that we had calculated,” Bottas reflected later. “Especially with the hard compound, we couldn’t get it going and keep a good pace, and that was the biggest problem. We tried to go for the soft at the end, it was better, but then we had to make two stops.”
The ten-time race winner also asked Kick Sauber to evaluate his pit stop problems after two incidents in as many weekends.
“It is a concern, without a doubt, and the same problem. [each time]”said Bottas. “Of course, in one week we couldn’t change many things, so now we have at least two weeks before the next race. But yes, it is a critical issue and the team is on it.”
The team is hoping for better when the F1 season hits the Australian Grand Prix, which takes place from March 22-24.