Zhou receives penalty for Belgian GP after Verstappen incident

Zhou Guanyu was demoted three places on the starting grid by the stewards of the Belgian Grand Prix for impeding Max Verstappen in qualifying.

In a wet session at Spa, Zhou’s Stake machine was slow in Q1 at Blanchimont and appeared to hamper Verstappen, who, despite not driving at full racing speed, was catching up.

The incident was noted and subsequently investigated by the race stewards, who concluded that although Zhou had been informed by the Red Bull team, the information had not been reported accurately enough and that it was Zhou’s responsibility not to impede Verstappen.

This resulted in a relegation of three places, which Zhou will not compete for.

He qualified 20th and slowest of all, but Yuki Tsunoda is dropped 60 places due to a power unit change, meaning Zhou moves up to 19th.

Due to his three-place grid demotion, he remains in 19th place given the severity of Tsunoda’s penalty. Verstappen will start from 11th place following his own ten-place grid demotion.