Kick Sauber
Shwartzman ran in FP1 in place of Bottas, giving a good account of himself in the very difficult conditions. With the wind gusting and rain falling, a costly mistake would have been easy to make but he kept his copybook clean. Bottas was keen to get going in FP2, even racing Russell on his first out-lap.But he settled down after that and got plenty of running in. As for Zhou, he was called to the stewards to explain when he’d been released into the path of Ricciardo in the pit lane in FP2, which is never an ideal start to the weekend.
Valtteri Bottas – FP2: 1:12.206, P18
“Coming back to the car after a few weeks off and finding these blustery conditions was definitely tricky! It was not easy to find the right balance today and, with the conditions changing so quickly, it was difficult to find the rhythm you needed to get into the flow, especially on such a track. However, we have one more practice session tomorrow on top of the work we are going to do tonight: our job will be to find a bit more stability, and that will translate into more performance. We know we are still lacking something in terms of pace to be in the top ten, but tomorrow the conditions will be difficult again and, together with some luck, that could help us. For now, we need to focus on doing our part to get a better overall balance.”
Robert Shwartzman – FP1: 1:14.658, P16
“First of all, I would like to thank Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber and Ferrari for this opportunity. The team was super welcoming to me right away, and I also got to see some familiar faces as well, people I worked with at Ferrari before. It had been nearly a year since I last drove a Formula One car, back in Abu Dhabi, and once I got here, I knew I had to adapt quickly. On top of it, Zandvoort is possibly one of the most challenging racetracks, although a very enjoyable one to drive, and with today’s mixed conditions I needed to be on it straight away. Overall, I can say I am happy with today’s performance: it’s been a good learning session despite the rain and strong winds, and the car felt good. I got stuck in some traffic towards the end, which made me lose some time and made it difficult to put in a better laptime – I think I could have improved even further on the slicks had we had one extra lap. Still, it’s been a good day, and I am happy with how things have gone.”
Zhou Guanyu – FP1: 1:13.965, P10; FP2: 1:11.934, P16
“It feels great to be back on track – and Zandvoort always brings good energy. Today was quite a smooth day for us overall: the track and wind conditions were quite challenging, but we still managed to complete two clean sessions that allowed us to collect valuable data and information. It looks like we are not too far off, but we still need to find more pace, especially on high fuel. As in previous races, we’ve seen that our chances are better when conditions are mixed compared to a fully dry track. With some rain and wind likely tomorrow, we’re hopeful for a good day that will allow us to seize our opportunities, putting us in a good position for Sunday’s race.”