2024 Australian Grand Prix: Preview

KICK Sauber F1 Team heads to Australia for the third round of the Formula One World Championship. Against the backdrop of Albert Park, one of the classic venues of Formula One, having been part of the calendar since 1996, the team will aim to be competitive as the battle for the points positions intensifies and every detail matters in this close fight.

Team Quotes

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: “We head to Melbourne motivated to quickly turn the tide after a challenging weekend in Saudi Arabia. Australia is an important venue for us and for all our partners: it’s a race in which the fans show all their love for the drivers, the teams and the sport and it’s a great advertisement for Formula One. We want to give everything to repay the affection we have here, and we will draw motivation from the fans. Returning to Hinwil after Jeddah, we regrouped and got back to work, to analyse what didn’t work out for us so far, and how to improve from there. As a positive we brought back from the double-header in the Middle East, our car is able to deliver solid race pace. We aim to improve our single-lap pace, as well, to allow us to claim higher spots on the grid – and the upgrades we are bringing to Australia are meant to help us on this quest. We saw how tight the field has been over the first two races, and we are aware we must extract 100% of our performance to do well. We come prepared to get in the mix for point and are ready to give it all.”

Valtteri Bottas (Car 77): “I’m delighted to be back in Australia – it’s no secret this is the closest to a home race for me now, and I want to have a good result to repay the love I am shown! The support and the energy of the fans is incredible – it’s great to be here, and you experience it right away, from the moment you step in the Melbourne Walk. The race in Jeddah was a tough one for the team, but we have been working hard this past week, away from the track, to get on top of the issues that didn’t allow us to extract the full potential of our car. This is a really cool track and I have enjoyed racing here in the past: I won here in 2019, so I have good memories, and I’m even more motivated to bring back a good result this weekend, proving our direct competitors we too are valid contenders in the battle for points. If we start the weekend on the right foot, I’m positive we can achieve that.”

Zhou Guanyu (Car 24): “It’s good to be back in Melbourne this week: I have great memories from racing here in the past two years, and from the whole weekend experience: the Chinese community in this city is quite large, and I could feel their support from the grandstands – it’ll be a first taste of what we can expect in Shanghai in just over a month. After the first two races, I am motivated and hungry for good results: we finished just outside of the points in Bahrain, and showed solid race pace in Jeddah before my race was compromised. That’s in the past now, we have thoroughly investigated what happened, and we have hopefully been able to solve the problem. I’m looking forward to being back on track this weekend, picking up things where we left them in Bahrain – and improving from there.”