Zhou Relishes Midfield Fight as Sauber Progresses in Vegas

Zhou Guanyu enjoyed a breakthrough in Las Vegas, highlighting Sauber C44’s progress and his first real chance to battle competitively.

Guanyu Zhou delivered his best weekend of the season in Las Vegas. The Stake F1 driver made it into Q2 during qualifying and finished the race in 13th position, which was a positive boost for him.

“Today, I had a good race. It’s been a while since we’ve been fighting in the midfield, close to the top ten, and today I felt like we finally had a real chance,” Zhou said.

“I think we maximized the result we could achieve with our pace, especially considering there weren’t many dramatic events at the front.”

“Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to get back to where we were this weekend. It’s a step forward and gives us confidence: things feel more promising as we head to Qatar for the next round.”

Valtteri Bottas, meanwhile, struggled with Pirelli tire degradation and couldn’t compete after starting from the back of the grid due to a penalty, finishing last.

“First of all, congratulations to Max for clinching the title tonight—it’s the perfect place to do it!” said the Finnish driver before reflecting on his race, which ended in 18th place.

“For me, it was a very tough race as the tires didn’t last as long as we had hoped. We planned for a one-stop strategy, but it became clear we would only make it to the end with two stops.”

“Starting on hard tires, only a one-stop strategy could have given me an advantage, but it didn’t work out today—we were a bit caught off guard.”

“In terms of pace, I couldn’t make enough progress, and I focused on the team game to support Zhou. It was a challenging day, but the car seems to be improving, and I hope we have two better weekends to finish the season.”