周冠宇

Baku, 14 September 2024 – Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber played as a team in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, working together in a session that reserved surprises until the closing stages.

With Zhou assured of a back-of-the-grid start, owing to a planned change of power unit components resulting in a penalty, the Chinese driver gave team-mate Valtteri a useful tow on Baku's long straights. The end result was a lot closer to our rivals, with Valtteri setting the 18th fastest time, ahead of Zhou in 19th.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "Firstly, we would like to express our gratitude to Zhou. He has made concessions in both free practice and qualifying, sacrificing his sessions to provide the tow to Valtteri, which could have been crucial in allowing us to get at least one car into Q2. Of course, this will not change his own starting position for tomorrow's race, as we elected to make changes to some power unit components on his car. We knew from this morning that he would be starting from the back of the grid because of this. However, this demonstrates our collective efforts to improve performance and take that necessary step forward. Regrettably, we were narrowly unable to advance Valtteri into Q2. The gap was truly small, but we do not lose hope. The starting positions are once again quite challenging for us, but we have observed that this circuit offers opportunities at every corner. Therefore, we must be prepared to react with our pit strategy. More than ever, we will have to come together as a team to deliver a strong performance, improving our starting position, and being ready to seize any opportunities that may arise during the race."

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):

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

FP3: 17th / 1:44.187 (18 laps)

Q1: 18th / 1:43.618 (7 laps)

"It's been another rather difficult qualifying session. We tried everything we could, even with teamwork: I got a nice tow from Zhou, which shows that he's a real team player, but unfortunately it still wasn't enough to get into Q2. We weren't that far off from making the cut, although the lap itself wasn't quite perfect because of Turn Five. Apart from that, however, it was a clean one, and I think we also got it right with timing and strategy. Ultimately, we just weren't fast enough to make it to Q2 today. As always, though, tomorrow is a new day, and anything can happen in Baku."

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):

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

FP3: 18th / 1:44.869 (20 laps)

Q1: 19th / 1:44.246 (10 laps)

"We knew I would be facing a penalty for Sunday, forcing me to start from the back of the grid, so we aimed to optimise the team's overall result. My goal was to give Valtteri a slipstream to help him get as close as possible to Q2, which we practiced in FP3. However, this meant sacrificing my own performance, as my best lap was set on tyres that were two and a half laps old. Still, we need to improve our overall performance and move further forward to be in the mix. Looking ahead to tomorrow's race from our current grid position – and knowing how unpredictable things can be in Baku – there may be opportunities to progress and gain some positions. We'll need to be at our best to capitalise on them."