F1 News: Saudi Arabian GP session running STOPPED after dramatic crash

Safety Car, Bahrain, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

Saudi Arabian GP

F1 Saudi Arabian GP session running STOPPED after dramatic crash

The driver was ok following a heavy hit with the barriers

Tyler Rowlinson

Friday 8 March 2024 15:38

The third practice session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix saw a red flag after Zhou Guanyu was involved in a major accident.

The Kick Sauber driver lost the rear of the car heading through the first-paced corners of sector one and collided violently with the barriers.

Zhou was able to climb from the wreckage and inform his team he was ok: "Sorry mate, I lost the car. Yep, sorry I don't know what happened. Otherwise I am ok," he said over his team radio.

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Zhou Guanyu suffered a major accident in FP3

The Chinese driver was ok following the crash

The session resumed with six minutes left to run

Zhou major crash

With 16 minutes left of the session at the time of the crash, just over 10 minutes was spent fixing the barrier and clearing the track before the session was resumed with five minutes to run.

18 cars took to the track to frantically get one final lap in before the end of the session, with Zhou and Logan Sargeant not going back out - the latter due to damaging his steering at the front left earlier on.

Max Verstappen topped the timesheets at the end of the session, followed by Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.

More to follow

F1 Red Bull Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber Saudi Arabian GP