Sauber drivers Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou completed the qualifying protocol for the Dutch Grand Prix, with the eighteenth and nineteenth fastest times. The team admits that it will not be easy to regain positions in the race.
Valtteri Bottas (18th): “If you look at the results from today’s qualifying, it’s clear that we’re not in the positions we want to be in. We want to make progress, but it’s difficult to achieve that this weekend, and today is no exception.
In the morning, during practice, the car was better, but it wasn’t so windy then. But as soon as the wind picked up, our weaknesses showed up – balance problems started in turns. The car is quite sensitive to the wind and I think I got the best out of it despite the traffic at the end of the lap.
“Tomorrow won’t be easy, but in our sport there are always chances, so we won’t give up and we’ll keep fighting. The team knows it will be difficult to earn points, especially because it’s a difficult circuit to overtake, but finishing in the top ten is still our goal.”
Guanyu Zhou (19th): “Disappointing day and difficult qualifying. The car was running well this weekend and it seemed to me that everything went in our favour.
During Friday practice we noticed a lack of speed over a long series of laps, so we adjusted the settings to correct this. Apparently the new setting resulted in a loss of speed in one lap. We still have to investigate this.
Unfortunately I couldn’t attack with full power and every lap after the third corner the tire problems started. It is necessary to find out the reason and prepare better for the race.
The team has not performed well at this circuit in recent years, but we will continue to work to get the best out of tomorrow’s race.”
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.
