Sauber expected a stronger performance in Hungary as a result of upgrading the package on Valtteri Bottas’ car two races before heading into the summer break.
A decent result in qualifying saw the Finnish driver going close to a place in Q3 as he missed out by 0.077s to start P12, as teammate Zhou Guanyu was knocked out in Q1 and will start the race from P18 on the grid.
The driver from Shanghai spoke after qualifying explaining that the weather conditions was not to be blamed on his final result on Saturday, as he struggled with the balance of his C44.
“We expected the track to be similar to say early on. So we didn’t really put enough front wing [clicks] on the car which when it’s fully dry, I was really lacking overall rotation and that’s where more than two tenths was missing.
“So at least, I feel like there’s margin for us to do that and the lap I did it wasn’t really the best I think with what we have.
“We wanted to go on at the beginning because we wasn’t sure how the track conditions were to be the earliest car out there,” the 25-year-old explained, as he was the first driver to go out on track at the restart of Q1 when the track was not at its peak following light rain. He was 0.550s slower than Bottas.
“Maybe it’s probably the guys behind had a little bit of a track evolution but on my side I wasn’t really struggling with the rain on my final lap, I was just struggling a little bit with the balance and that was quite simple, but that’s where I missed a bit when the track getting to almost full dry conditions. And no DRS in the second part as well, it’s a bit frustrating.”
Zhou is hopeful for the upcoming races when he gets the upgrades on his car after the summer break, seeing as his Finnish teammate got it first.
“I can see the package is working better, which is good. But the downside is I need to wait another few more weeks before putting it on my car, just because install and all that.
“Is completely different so it’s not like a short-term change turning around, so unfortunately I have to wait there.”
On the other side of the Sauber garage Valtteri Bottas showed satisfaction with his day. The 10-time race winner, however, was cautious, as he says the Hungaroring is a very unique track on the calendar and Sauber will have to confirm in the future that this step is not a one-off.
“Better, I mean we were actually good here last year as well. So I don’t know if it’s a bit of that, or if it’s a bit of [the] upgrades.
“We found a bit more, and it just seems like we’re a bit more in the mix. But again, it’s quite a unique track. So we need to see as far as well.”
Despite his sensibleness, Bottas admitted the car did feel better in qualifying with the upgrades Sauber brought for this weekend.
“Yeah, there are changes. Still the weakness we see even in this track are the high-speed corners, we’re just losing too much. It seems like we’ve just gained front load.
“It helps as well, but still in the high-speed corners we’re losing too much. And that’s still the clear direction if we want to take further steps.”
The 34-year-old is hopeful to fight for points following a good lap to make it out of Q1.
“I was pleased with that, I think now we managed to get a decent starting position on a track that is difficult to take. So it was really important to get through.
“It’s probably the best chance so far in the season to fight for the points.”
