2024 Hungarian Grand Prix – Saturday

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber delivered a much stronger performance in Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Valtteri Bottas going close to a place in Q3 and Zhou Guanyu only narrowly missing out on one in Q2. The team’s showing was promising, but the job remains to be done on Sunday: around the narrow confines of the Hungaroring, every detail – on track, on the pit wall and in the pit stop box – will be crucial for the team.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: “Today has been a positive day for the team, as we received confirmation that the upgrade package we brought to Hungary delivered the expected improvements. We are now approaching the race with renewed perspectives. Valtteri maximised track time and executed our Q2 strategy effectively, finishing P12 and narrowly missing out on Q3. The main difference between us and the top 10, including Lewis Hamilton, was in the high-speed second sector, which remains a weakness for us. However, we reduced the gap and improved the car’s overall performance across all types of corners, achieving our goals for this upgrade. Thanks to the hard work done in Hinwil, we have seen positive results. The session was more challenging for Zhou, who missed Q2 by just two-tenths of a second. Despite employing the same strategy, we had to abort his second lap during the first stint in Q1, and he was unable to secure a place in Q2 in the second stint. Nevertheless, we observed a good step forward for him compared to the previous race, both in terms of his car performance and his ability to improve with each stint during the Q1 session. Tomorrow, we expect a tough race, with hotter temperatures being a significant factor. During Friday’s race simulations, we identified areas for improvement to avoid overheating and manage tyre thermal degradation. Consequently, tomorrow’s strategy will be crucial. We also opted to save hard tyres, and we’ll see if we can make further progress after today’s positive qualifying session.”

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)
FP3: 12th / 1:16.804 (20 laps)
Q1: 1:17.487 (13 laps)

Q2: 12th / 1:16.384 (6 laps)

“I am happy with how today went; I feel like we squeezed everything we could from the car and didn’t leave anything on the table – it is definitely a good feeling, and a step in the right direction compared to recent qualifying sessions. We were really close to Q3, actually a mere handful of thousandths away from it, which is good to see, and a confirmation that the new bits are working as expected. The track felt good in both sessions today, better than yesterday, which allowed us to be a bit more in the mix. Looking ahead to tomorrow, I feel we can be in a good place to fight for points; it’s rather difficult to overtake on this track, which should make defending rather okay – hopefully, we’ll also be able to attack and fight our way into the top ten – that has to be the target.”

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 02/Ferrari)
FP3: 17th / 1:17.291 (15 laps)

Q1: 18th / 1:18.037 (12 laps)
“We experienced some tricky and quite different conditions in qualifying compared to previous sessions. My final lap in dry conditions was clean, but I struggled with balance and rotation, which caused me to miss out on Q2 by a narrow margin, when I reckon I had the chance to make it out of Q1. Overall, the car felt better and we’re seeing some progress, especially with the development direction the team has taken and the parts that were introduced here on Valtteri’s car. Tomorrow is a new day, and it’ll be crucial to have the tyres in the right window to make up some positions: I’m confident the team will keep pushing and working hard to find the best way to make it happen.”