The Sauber driver sustained damage during Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session, which cruelled his chances of progressing beyond Qualifying 1.
He was one of four drivers eliminated given Williams’ inability to field a second car following Alex Albon’s crash in Free Practice 1 – which saw the Thai-licensed driver swapped into Logan Sargeant’s car.
Under the regulations, Sauber was able to replace Zhou’s front wing without penalty, provided it did so with a like-for-like replacement.
“The front wing/nose assembly has been replaced with the approval of the FIA technical delegate following a written request from the team concerned, this being in accordance with Article 40.3 of the 2024 Formula One Sporting Regulations,” the stewards’ report declared.
“But as the front wing/nose assembly is different from the one originally used and also changes have been made to the set-up of the car (with the approval of the FIA technical delegate following a written request), car number 24 should now be required to start from the pit lane according to Article 40.9 of the 2024 Formula One Sporting Regulations.”
While Zhou will start the race from pit lane, Ricciardo will bring up the rear of the grid with a number of new power unit components.
That includes an internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K, and new exhaust.
However, those changes were replaced within the regulations and do not attract any penalty.
Max Verstappen will start from pole for the Australian Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc alongside him on the front row.
Lando Norris will start third, with his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri out of fifth.
The Australian GP begins at 15:00 AEDT.
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