Bottas Secures Q2 Zhou Struggles at Suzuka

Valtteri Bottas celebrates a Q2 breakthrough at Suzuka amid ongoing pit stop challenges, showcasing significant team progress and setting sights on Q3.

Valtteri Bottas is pleased to have made it into Q2 at Suzuka. Stake F1 continues to face the shadow of botched pit stops looming over its drivers, yet the Finn delivered a solid qualifying performance, clocking in 13th, not far from making it into Q3.

“I was very satisfied with how our car felt today, during both the morning session and qualifying,” Bottas exults. “It’s good to be back in Q2 and knocking on the door of Q3.”

“Of course, making it into the top 10 would have been even more delightful, but this outcome proves we are moving in the right direction with the improvements made over the last two weekends, and for that, we owe a great deal of gratitude to the Hinwil team for their ongoing support.”

“We’ve made some small steps forward throughout the weekend, and looking forward to tomorrow, I am confident that if we do everything right, we will be able to put up a proper fight with the cars around us and bring home some points.”

Meanwhile, Zhou laments his poor preparation

Conversely, his teammate, Guanyu Zhou, who has not outperformed Bottas once this year and will start from the back, says, “Today was a challenging day for me.”

“Unfortunately, due to a technical issue, I missed the end of FP3 and had to jump straight from my long run practice to qualifying. Given the lack of preparation, it was difficult for me to predict the car’s behavior.”

“And although I tried to maximize everything I could, I simply didn’t have enough rear grip in the last sector, where I lost everything. I believe more time to prepare for my qualifying run would have placed me in a more comfortable position.”

“The starting grid is very tight, and while the fight for points depends on overtaking opportunities, I am confident in my ability to gain positions. Tomorrow is a new day, and as a team, we will continue to give our best.”