Valtteri Bottas: New products meet expectations

Sauber drivers Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas were placed on the sixth and seventh lines of the protocol for the second practice session of the Japanese Grand Prix. The team assessed the technical innovations positively and expects to reach the qualifying finals.

Guanyu Zhou (6th): “It’s only been a few months since our last visit to Suzuka, but it’s always great to compete at this track. Today’s sessions took place under changing circumstances. We gathered a lot of information in the morning and in the second session we practiced more on the pit stops.

Apparently we have a higher speed on this circuit than in previous stages, especially if we consider that we were only able to do one series of laps on Medium tires and experiment with the settings.

The team at the track and at the base in Hinwil have done an excellent job preparing the new products: they are performing as expected. I think we should aim to finish in the top ten for the rest of the weekend.

The team will continue to work on the car and adjust the settings to ensure a successful performance in tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Valtteri Bottas (7th): “It’s great to be back on track in Suzuka. Overall the day was positive, despite the changeable weather. The new products we have brought to this stage are working as expected, and everyone in the team was in a good mood this morning.

Too bad we couldn’t work properly during the second training, because we couldn’t cover a long distance due to the rain. However, we have collected useful information that we will study in the evening. The team also practiced pit stops.

We didn’t manage to work on the Soft tires, but I hope to be able to do that tomorrow in the last training session. We are going to prepare as best as possible for the qualifications and reaching the final.”