Bottas Positive Despite Rain at Suzuka GP Practice

Valtteri Bottas’s return to the Suzuka track for the Japanese Grand Prix’s first practice saw mixed weather but an optimistic outlook.

Valtteri Bottas expressed his satisfaction in returning to the Suzuka track this Friday for the initial practice sessions of the Japanese Grand Prix. Despite a day disrupted by rain, the Stake F1 driver provided a generally positive assessment of the day’s proceedings for his team.

“It’s fantastic to be back on track here at Suzuka, which has been a positive day for us overall, despite the mixed weather conditions,” Bottas remarked. “The enhancements we’ve introduced for this race have performed as expected, and the team’s morale was very positive this morning.”

“It’s regrettable we couldn’t maximize the FP2 due to rain limiting significant laps, but we managed to run effectively and gather valuable data to work on overnight. We also practiced our pit stops.”

“We have yet to run with the soft tires in dry conditions, but we hope to do so tomorrow in the final practice session to prepare for qualifying and aim to break into the top 10.”

“Even better” performances for the C44

Guanyu Zhou also drew a positive conclusion, particularly because the team is working on resolving their pit stop issues: “Only a few months have passed since our last visit, but it’s always nice to return to Suzuka.”

“Today’s sessions were quite varied due to the changing conditions: we collected a lot of data in the morning and gained valuable insights, while the rainy afternoon session allowed us to practice pit stops.”

The Chinese driver even showed optimism: “Our performances seem to be even better here compared to previous events, especially considering that we only ran with the medium compound and used the first practice session to experiment with the setup.”

“The team here and in Hinwil has done an excellent job, as our new package appears to be functioning as anticipated, and I believe we should aim for the top 10 for the rest of the weekend. We will continue to work on the car and refine the settings to ensure we’re well-positioned for a successful qualifying session.”