Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu received a penalty for obstructing Max Verstappen during Q1 of the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, an incident that left the Red Bull driver infuriated.
As the final third of qualifying’s first knockout session began, Verstappen was navigating through Blanchimont on a flying lap when he encountered Zhou moving slowly on the racing line.
Verstappen hesitated momentarily, then gestured towards the Sauber as he continued on and passed him, with Verstappen ultimately securing pole position while Zhou finished last in Q1.
After a post-qualifying investigation, the Spa stewards imposed a three-place grid penalty on Zhou, stating that while Sauber “notified the driver about Car 1 being behind him, the information provided was insufficient,” emphasizing that “it is the driver’s duty to avoid unnecessarily impeding others” – as noted in the decision document.
The stewards concluded that “Car 24 unnecessarily impeded Car 1 and thus the standard penalty is enforced,” the statement continued.
They further elaborated that: “Car 24 remained on the racing line through Turn 17 as Car 1 approached, despite not operating at full racing speed.
“Car 1 had to ease off the throttle for a brief moment before overtaking Car 24.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Erik Junius
Zhou’s team radio indicated that he was informed Verstappen was behind him but “in phase” with his slower lap. As a result, he continued discussing potential set-up adjustments with his engineer, unaware that the Red Bull was rapidly closing in. Following the incident, Verstappen expressed his frustration, asking “Hello? What the f***?”
Despite Verstappen starting first, he will be pushed back to 11th on the grid due to a penalty for introducing a new internal combustion engine element beyond the permissible allocation, while Zhou will start from 19th.
This places Zhou one position higher than his qualifying spot, as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda is set to start last due to taking a completely new engine for the race, accumulating grid penalties that total 60 places.
In such unusual situations, F1 now enforces a rule requiring the involved cars to line up at the back, so despite Zhou also receiving a grid penalty, he will start ahead of Tsunoda.
Zhou’s violation did not result in any penalty points on his superlicence.
