kick sauber
That was not the case for Bottas. Bottas stopped mid-race with his engine smoking to bring out both VSC and the safety car. Kick Sauber’s recovery from that serious injury turned out to be more difficult than originally thought. Zhou saw the checkered flag on an emotional day in his home country, but a few pit stops left him unable to challenge for points. The team gambled on another late stop for Soft to see if he could break through the field, but in the end he could only manage 14th place.
Valtteri Bottas, DNF
“Today was a pretty disappointing end to a very promising weekend. Having started 10th, we were in a good position to fight for points, but the race had been going well overall, but suddenly the driver We’re going to do a thorough investigation in the next few days.It’s a shame, but I still had a long way to go and I was still fighting Nico. [Hülkenberg] Who got the points? It’s hard to accept, but this is racing and there will be many more opportunities ahead. Our pace is increasing and as a team we are always taking small steps on many fronts. We were around 10th all weekend and were able to learn a lot about our car and the upgrades that would allow us to reach our full potential. As I continue to take these steps, I look forward to racing again in Miami, which I have enjoyed so much over the past few years. ”
Zhou Guanyu, 14th place
“This weekend was an amazing experience. I have dreamed of racing at home for years and was finally able to make it happen. Seeing the passion and love from everyone in the stands was amazing. It was something I’ve never experienced before, and it was something I’ll never forget, especially when I saw so many people cheering and shouting your name. I made sure to wave at every corner of the stands where there were fans. As much as I treated this as a normal race weekend, the emotions were undeniable, especially when we stopped at Parc Fermé. I was really impressed. It was a special moment and capped off my honor as the first ever Chinese driver to compete in the Chinese Grand Prix.
“The race was tough, especially in the first stint where I didn’t have a lot of grip and slipped all over the place, but I was able to recover well. It’s not just finishing the race that makes me happy. All we have to do is fight our way through the field, give it our all and leave nothing behind. Unfortunately, we knew it would be difficult to break into the points after starting from the back of the field, but there were some things like our pace. We can focus on the positives. And of course there was also the huge improvement made by the team and the crew at the pit stops, and in the end we were soft and cocky. I knew I could maintain my current position if I didn’t stop, so I gambled on switching to soft and seeing if I could improve further. But the car felt good and I’m glad I was able to fight through.The whole weekend was positive, considering the pressure this weekend, and yesterday afternoon and today were a little tough. But I did my best.”
Alessandro Arunni Bravi, Team Principal
“This was not the race we expected, nor the race we had hoped for. Before we get into the analysis of the race, let us highlight the important page Mr. Zhou left in the history of Chinese motorsport and F1 with his team. The proof was the support of all the spectators throughout the weekend from Thursday onwards, which was impressive and exceeded our expectations. We’ve seen first-hand how popular Formula 1 has become in China and we’re proud that our team will be able to take part in this with him, even though we expected it to be a tough race after starting 16th. , he had good pace and fought well in many battles. We adopted an aggressive strategy in the final stages and switched to soft tires to improve his performance. Unfortunately, there were no points for him today. But it was important for him to show that he could fight against the cars around him and that he was competitive.
“It was a disappointing end to the race for Valtteri, who was fighting Nico.” [Hülkenberg] To be in the top 10. He had a good opening stint on the medium tire and the choice to move to the hard tire was the right one. Unfortunately, his race was interrupted by a drivetrain issue, which we will look into. He had the pace to get into the points, so it was a natural result for both him and the team, so it was a huge shame. Finally, the positive aspect of today’s race was the consistency of our pit stops, which allowed us to achieve the goals we set for this weekend. This is an improvement that will give confidence to the pit crew. Now we set our sights on Miami with the knowledge that we could go there for a strong weekend. ”
