2024 Belgian Grand Prix – Friday
Spa-Francorchamps, 26 July 2024 – KICK Sauber F1 Team concluded a productive day of action in Practice for the Belgian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu put their C44s through the test of Formula One calendar's longest circuit as the team collected data and information about the cars' setup and tyres on a high-efficiency track.
Ahead of tomorrow's qualifying, our engineers will focus on fine-tuning the setup to extract that crucial extra bit of performance that will give an additional boost to our drivers.
Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):
KICK Sauber F1 Team C44 (Chassis 04/Ferrari)
FP1: 14th / 1:45.155 (21 laps)
FP2: 13th / 1:43.675 (24 laps)
"Today has been a productive day of learning – this track never disappoints. We got to further test and understand the new parts introduced in Budapest, although Spa is obviously very different, while trying different configurations to get a clear picture of what we will need from our car for Sunday. While we enjoyed two dry sessions today, the question mark remains on tomorrow's forecast – there's some rain expected, which wouldn't be unusual for Spa. In any case, we got a decent number of long runs under our belt today, gathering useful data for us to work on overnight. Sunday remains our top priority, and the sun is supposed to be out again by then – so we will need to set the car up accordingly."
Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):
KICK Sauber F1 Team C44 (Chassis 02/Ferrari)
FP1: 19th / 1:45.812 (19 laps)
FP2: 19th / 1:44.302 (23 laps)
"Today was quite a tricky day at the office, but we managed to get through our programme and collect a vast amount of data and information to compare my package with the new upgrades used by Valtteri. It's clear that we need to make significant progress to find some more pace: it's rather difficult to be fighting for the top 10 – and even the top 15. While we're there with the group, I reckon we’re at the back at this moment. Now it's time for us to regroup, analyse the data, and try to find a few more tenths to be closer to our competitors. Let's see what the weather has in store tomorrow and what that means for the performance of our car. Spa always has some surprises in its pocket, which could help me to put myself more into position."
