周冠宇

Budapest, 19 July 2024 – Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber had a solid first day of on-track action at the Hungaroring, as Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu took on practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Under the cruel summer sun that shone over Mogyorod, the team was able to test the suite of upgrades introduced for this race and delivered a solid result while testing single-lap performance. It was a satisfactory first day, which gives the team confidence ahead of tomorrow's important qualifying session. The team will now crunch the data and look for ways to extract more performance from the C44s ahead of Saturday and Sunday.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)

FP1: 15th / 1:19.804 (28 laps)

FP2: 11th / 1:18.586 (25 laps)

"Today has been a good learning day; it took us a while to get the new parts we are bringing this weekend up and running the way we wanted in FP1 – but that's what practice day is for. After some fine-tuning of the set-up in FP2, we managed to find a bit more performance and a positive direction to work on ahead of tomorrow. Overall, I feel like we might be in a better position than in recent events, but there is definitely still some work to be done overnight and something more to extract during tomorrow's final practice session – so that we can come prepared for a crucial qualifying."

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):

Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44 (Chassis 02/Ferrari)

FP1: 5th / 1:19.180 (24 laps)

FP2: 20th / 1:20.067 (25 laps)

"The car felt pretty good straight out of the box today; I still want to be cautious, as it is only Friday, but it does feel like we are in a much better position compared to previous weekends. This could allow us to challenge our rivals in qualifying and fight for a top ten finish on Sunday if we have a good race. Everything worked out smoothly this morning, and this afternoon my lap time could have been worthy of P10 if I hadn't had that moment in Turn Four. Overall, it's safe to say we have had a couple of positive sessions so far, especially considering the way our testing programme was structured. This track definitely suits our car a little bit better, with its medium-speed corners and smooth surface: still, there is some work to do overnight, but we are going in the right direction."