Both Sauber drivers were among the five unlucky drivers who could not qualify even for the second part of qualifying before the sprint at the Miami circuit.
Valtteri Bottas (18th): “Between training and qualifying for the sprint we had to adjust the balance quite a bit, but I have to admit that the behavior of the car has changed a lot. She slid all over the track – perhaps this was also due to the fact that the condition of the asphalt surface changed.
In addition, serious traffic problems got in the way and I had a difficult moment with one of the McLaren cars when I had to leave the track, after which the effective functioning of the tires never recovered.
Obviously my starting position for the sprint is not important, but I am sure we will be able to learn a lot about the car’s behavior, and this will be useful in preparing for tomorrow’s qualifying, but also that of Sunday. race. Overall, the weekend has only just begun.”
Guanyu Zhou (17th): “Unfortunately our problems started during training, after which we made significant changes to the settings and were able to solve some problems, but others remained.
Therefore, for the time being we are hampered by a lack of traction, and the reasons for this need to be analyzed in detail. But we couldn’t find those last few tenths, without which it was impossible to advance to the second part of qualifying.
I think we will have to try to collect as much information as possible during the sprint to understand what we can do to prepare as best as possible for Sunday. We are clearly lacking momentum at the moment, but I am confident that we can take a step forward.”
Source: F1 News

I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.