2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix – Saturday

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber fought well within the midfield at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Zhou Guanyu running in the top ten for long parts of the race before finishing in 13th position. Team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, started from the back due to a penalty and played the team game on his way to 18th place at the chequered flag.

The team will aim to build on the progress of the last couple of rounds to finish the season strongly in the remaining races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: “We can be reasonably satisfied with today’s race pace. Zhou battled in the midfield with our direct competitors throughout the evening, fighting until the last lap to secure P13. We switched both cars to a two-stop strategy to try to limit tyre graining and maintain performance. Valtteri’s race was much more difficult: starting last on the grid, we knew that he’d be up against it without any Safety Car. He went through the first part of the race on hard tyres, then had a very good last stint but, unfortunately, as soon as he got lapped by the leading cars, there was no more chance for him to recover positions. All in all, this weekend showed qualifying improvements, and we saw Zhou’s return to strong racing form. We have two races ahead of us to build on these improvements, and we will need to give everything – we won’t be giving up.”

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 02/Ferrari)
Race result: 18th

Fastest lap: 1:36.601 (Lap 46)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (New Hard) – Lap 18 (New Medium) – Lap 36 (New Hard)

“First of all, congratulations to Max for clinching the title tonight – it’s quite the place to do it! For me, it was a very tough race as the tyres didn’t last as long as we were hoping for. We had planned one stop, but it became clear that we could only make it to the end with a two-stopper. Starting on hards, only a one-stop strategy could have given me an advantage, but it didn’t work out today, it caught us a bit by surprise. Pace-wise, I couldn’t make enough progress, and I focused also on playing the team game to support Zhou. It was just a tough day out there, but the car seems to be making some progress so hopefully we can have two better weekends to end the season.”

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)
Race result: 13th
Fastest lap: 1:36.324 (Lap 46)
Strategy & Pit Stops: Start (Used Medium) – Lap 12 (Used Hard) – Lap 35 (New Hard)

“Today was a good race for me. It’s been a while since we fought in the mid-pack near the top ten, and today, I feel we finally had a real chance. I believe we maximised the result we could have had with our pace, especially considering there was not a lot of drama happening ahead. Still, it’s encouraging to be back where we were this weekend. It’s a step forward and it gives us confidence: things are looking more promising as we head to Qatar for the next round.”