In spite of failing to score points yet again, Sauber had a relatively strong weekend in Mexico City as Valtteri Bottas made it to the second segment of qualifying for the first time since the Belgian Grand Prix. Starting from P15 on the grid, the Finn took the chequered flag in fourteenth place. Meanwhile, after qualifying in last position and encountering brake problems during the race, Zhou Guanyu gained several positions to come home in fifteenth place at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Speaking afterwards, Bottas was asked to confirm whether they decided to extend his first stint on the hard tyres in the hope of pitting under an advantageous Safety Car. He clarified that the pit wall opted to extend his stint since the tyres were still generating decent lap times.
The 35-year-old also added that despite having satisfactory pace on the mediums at the start of the second stint, graining in the closing stages of the race allowed Esteban Ocon to overtake him. At the same time, he claimed that the Alpine had the pace to challenge him at the end anyway.
“Yeah, we wanted to extend because the tyre was actually still okay. I think from our side it was quite a well-managed stint, but no luck today.
“In the end, it was good with the mediums, but the last five laps or so I started graining, and Esteban [Ocon] got me in the end, but I think they clearly had a bit more pace as well.”
Referring to his statement after qualifying that he managed to get through to Q2 with the slowest car on the grid, a journalist wanted Bottas to share his opinion on whether their finishing positions on Sunday truly reflected the race pace of the C44. Remarking that they struggle more with their pace over the race distance than in qualifying, he acknowledged that it was an encouraging sign to finish ahead of multiple cars.
“It seems like, and I think still the race pace is more of an issue than the quali pace. But yeah, we had some cars behind us, so that’s something.”
In terms of whether the qualifying runs—being on low fuel and softer rubber—mask some of the weaknesses of the car that emerge otherwise during the race, Bottas responded that he agreed with the assessment. Moreover, he explained that when their tyre performance starts to drop after a number of laps, the shortcomings of the Sauber car are magnified.
Bottas also clarified that they appeared more competitive in comparison to the past few races since the low degradation circuit in Mexico City alleviated the limitations of the C44.
“I think so. For us, when the tyres are dropping, all the issues we have are just amplified.
Here, obviously, it’s quite a low deg [circuit], so I think we were able to at least fight a little bit, which really has not been the case recently. So it was a bit better here.”
On the topic of Yuki Tsunoda bringing out the red flag in Q2 and hampering his chances of qualifying higher than he did, Bottas was asked to comment on whether a better starting position would’ve allowed him to secure a better result on Sunday.
In a candid manner, the ten-time race winner admitted that the incident in Q2 did not have any significant impact on his race result. Estimating that he might’ve potentially kept Ocon behind, he reiterated that they need to make considerable gains in terms of race pace.
“I don’t think it makes a difference. If I look at how the race panned out, maybe I could’ve finished ahead of Esteban [Ocon], but I think that’s about it.
“Yeah, we still need more pace, especially in the race.”
With regard to the question of whether they are bringing new upgrades to Brazil, Bottas disclosed that the Hinwil-based team might introduce a new upgrade package in Las Vegas. Furthermore, the Finn implied that he is looking forward to hearing some news about his future in Formula 1 in the upcoming weekends.
“For next week? No, nothing new. We’re hoping Vegas, but nothing is confirmed.
“Hopefully some news, that would be nice.”
When asked why the Sauber pit wall adopted the reverse strategy and what the extent of his tyre degradation was post-race, Zhou revealed that he was managing brake problems since lap 10.
Suggesting that he had the pace to overtake a few drivers that were struggling to keep up ahead of him, the 25-year-old elaborated that the extreme lift and coast he had to perform throughout the race made recovery impossible.
“Yeah, actually I think for me at least the pace was okay, but I had a brake issue from lap 10.
“I was quite easily together with the pack, if not catching with some guys struggling ahead. But then I had this brake warning, especially with smoke in last sector, so I had to do like a two second lift off to try to finish the race.
“But the race was pretty much over. I had to stay out of the slipstream and just be driving alone a little bit, lonely at the end.”
In terms of whether the issue was cooling-related and prompted by him being stuck in the middle of the pack, Zhou reckoned that the high altitude of Mexico City or an obstruction of the brake duct might’ve caused the brakes to malfunction.
“I think it’s related with, of course, Mexico, but we were expecting maybe something got stuck on the brake duct or something, because that was way too early.
“I was doing already some lifting, trying to prevent the issue, but then it wasn’t enough. Like turn one, turn four, I had to do like 100 metres lifting off before braking, so that was quite extreme and it was impossible to go forward.”
When asked to confirm whether the issue was related to the brake fire he had in free practice, Zhou surmised that the brake temperature problems were connected. Nonetheless, he added that the team needs to examine the data to confirm the hypothesis and resolve the issue before his C44 hits the track at Interlagos.
“It was something similar, I think. I was getting a lot of warnings on the dash.
“We need to see, because like I said, even one lap I feel like the brake was almost smoking, end of the sector.
“This weekend just somehow both the front and rear brakes had just been very crucial and sensitive in a bad way. So, yeah, we need to see.
“I’m sure Brazil will be different, but it’s of course important to find out the issue.”
With regard to the question of whether he expects them to deliver even better results in Brazil, Zhou responded that they hope to keep up the momentum since they tend to perform relatively well during a Sprint weekend.
However, expressing caution regarding their underwhelming race pace, the Chinese driver added that their pace advantage on the medium tyres in comparison to the softest compound could help them achieve better results on Sunday if they manage to nail their performance in qualifying.
“Yeah, for sure. I think the Sprint race weekend normally gives us a little bit of an upper hand.
“I’m not saying we’re going to be very easy. I think the pace is not good enough at the moment, but I think it gives us a better opportunity to start higher up and then normally where we qualify [further up], we go a little bit backwards because of that.
“So, let’s see. The car seems to be slightly better on the medium tyre compared to the soft this season, but we need to find out later.”
