Valtteri Bottas: There will be chances to win back in the race

Sauber drivers Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou closed out the battle in the first part of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix. The team expects to win back in the race, but the possibility of gaining the first points of the season is no longer discussed.

Valtteri Bottas (17th): “We were definitely close to reaching the second part – I was a few hundredths of a second short. It’s clear that all of us in the team think we could have done better. The last fast lap was clean. I would even call it the cleanest of the whole weekend with good balance – it seemed like I couldn’t squeeze any more out of the car.

As for the condition of the track, it was initially slippery but gradually improved. Unfortunately we still don’t have enough speed in one fast lap.

We can look forward to the race with a lot of optimism, as there are more overtaking opportunities on this circuit than in Monaco. The gaps are again minimal, so I hope for an interesting race.

In addition, the weather could also play a role. I’m counting on changeable conditions or rain to help us reach higher positions. There will be opportunities to make up for this in the race, so we will try to make the most of each of these opportunities.”

Guanyu Zhou (20th): “Difficult day. Starting qualifying on a dry track without preparation is never easy. In the third training I had one moment [Чжоу разбил машину – прим.ред.], which ended my session prematurely. And although I went faster and faster every lap in qualifying, this was not enough to compensate for the lost training.

The gaps are minimal and I didn’t lose much to our direct rivals, but given the insufficient number of laps completed I couldn’t find the ideal rhythm.

Sunday is a new day and we will work to win back. Overtaking is possible on this track, so we will try to compete.”