2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix – Friday
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber wrapped up a busy day under the lights of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, with free practice 3 leading into an exciting qualifying session. Zhou Guanyu secured P13, delivering solid progress through the weekend, while Valtteri Bottas, who will have a five-place grid penalty for changing the energy store, took P19. With improvements evident and a promising starting position, the team looks ahead to tomorrow’s race, ready to capitalise on any opportunities, as last year’s event proved anything is possible.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: “Our team did a good job overnight: we were able to improve our setup from yesterday and, throughout FP3 and then qualifying, we found a good balance. We saw that the new floor that has been introduced helped us, and especially Zhou, to find more stability under braking, which was one of the elements we were missing yesterday. We are happy for Zhou, who performed solidly in Q1 on both his stints and then confirmed his performance in Q2. Of course, we’re disappointed we couldn’t place two cars in the top 15: we felt we had the potential to do it, but traffic prevented Valtteri from improving on his final Q1 stint. Starting in P20, he will need all his experience to recover positions. It’s too early to draw conclusions, but we need to pay tribute to our people in Hinwil that has produced this upgrade: we have seen it is helping us to find additional performance, and to come back to the fight for the points, hopefully tomorrow.”
Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 02/Ferrari)
FP3: 17th / 1:36.412 (14 laps)
Q1: 19th / 1:34.430 (10 laps)
“It was quite a messy session for me; we knew the track was always going to be the best towards the end of Q1, but then on my first lap of the final run, it just didn’t come together. I knew that I could improve a big chunk on the second lap, but I unfortunately just ran into lots of traffic. It was a bit unlucky, but also not the cleanest lap on my side, which is a shame. In any case, we always had a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow, so it would have been difficult to move away from the back rows anyway. Now we have a bit of a mountain to climb, but we’ll give it everything we can tomorrow. We have seen this circuit can provide opportunities for action, and we’ll need to make the most of that.”
Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)
FP3: 20th / 1:36.988 (16 laps)
Q1: 1:34.079 (10 laps)
Q2: 13th / 1:33.566 (7 laps)
“It’s great to be back in Q2! We’ve made solid progress throughout the weekend, and I’m very satisfied with today’s session. Considering the limited practice in FP3, I’m really happy with my qualifying lap — it felt quite strong, and I believe we extracted most from the car. Starting in such a competitive position creates an opportunity for us, and it’s a testament to the team’s hard work. Tomorrow, we’ll give it everything we’ve got to capitalise on this strong starting point and fight for a great result.”
