2024 British Grand Prix – Saturday
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber gave a good account of itself in qualifying for the British Grand Prix, with Zhou Guanyu claiming a spot in Q2 on a slippery, wet-to-dry Silverstone track. He ultimately finished in 14th, with team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, in 16th.
With the weather potentially playing a role in tomorrow’s race, the team will use these starting positions to fight for a top-ten finish and a spot in the points.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: “It may seem strange to comment positively on a session in which we finished in 14th and 16th, but today we did a step forward. In FP3, this morning, we were not there in terms of performance, especially in a perspective of fighting for a spot in Q2: we did some changes to our setup, going to a higher downforce level, and that made the car perform a lot better in qualifying. We saw Zhou being much more comfortable, and he delivered a very good lap to enter Q2. He was in a fight with the RBs and even Leclerc, cars that are usually out of our reach. Unfortunately, we lost Valtteri in Q1 by a very small margin. His first lap put him just outside the top ten, but then he had to abort both his second and third laps. It’s a shame as he had the performance to comfortably claim a spot in Q2. We need to focus on the positives: we saw a car with good balance and the team executed the session very well. We were the first to go for softs before the red flag and also positioned the car well, at the front of the line, at the restart. We can look at tomorrow’s race with confidence: conditions can be changeable and, if we execute well, we can be there in the fight for points.”
Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 03/Ferrari)
FP3: 15th / 1:40.242 (22 laps)
Q1: 16th / 1:32.431 (11 laps)
“We made some good calls today, so it’s disappointing to get knocked out in Q1. We were in a good position and in the top ten until the very last attempt, but sometimes it’s just like a roulette in these conditions. The rain made it very tricky, and it was a challenge to keep on track and squeeze all from the car, especially as the grip changed every lap. We were among the first to go to slicks before the red flag, and we had a good position at the top of the queue at the restart; however, conditions improved at the very end, the others could find something more and we couldn’t. Luck went against us today, but I feel we are in a better place for the race. It’s hard to say how conditions will be, but we’ll be ready for anything.”
Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 02/Ferrari)
FP3: 19th / 1:41.785 (23 laps)
Q1: 1:31.190 (12 laps)
Q2: 14th / 1:27.867 (10 laps)
“It feels good to have made it into Q2 here in Silverstone, a track that suits us much better than Austria. There was a lot going on in Q1 as we experienced mixed conditions and therefore started on inters before switching to slicks. The damp track in particular suited us quite well today – where gaps appear to be even smaller – and the team did a fantastic job navigating through some unpredictable conditions. I hope we’ll experience something similar tomorrow to make up a few more positions and be in the fight for points. I’m looking forward to the race as Silverstone is a track that offers lots of overtaking opportunities. I reckon tyre management will be quite important, and there will be chances to do well.”
