Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber had a busy afternoon fighting within the midfield pack, with Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu displaying an improved pace on their way to eventually finishing 14th and 15th respectively.

It was a step forward in comparison to recent rounds, as already seen yesterday, when Valtteri claimed a spot in Q2, and it shows the team is working hard to move in the right direction. With more upgrades coming before the end of the season, the Hinwil team will aim to move even closer to the front of the midfield.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "We made a slight improvement in terms of pace, and we looked better out there today, even though the race had a similar outcome to the previous ones, looking purely at positions. We saw this step forward on track, as we were on a much closer pace to our competitors: however, the lack of pace in the second part of the stint continues to hinder our ability to truly fight with our direct competitors. Valtteri's one-stop strategy on hard-medium tyres was just enough to defend P14 due to higher degradation, which left him exposed to Ocon in the later stages. Zhou's race was compromised as he struggled with balance and brake cooling, finishing in P15. Besides the improvement in pace, we were also satisfied with the pit stops, as both were good. We need the next upgrades the team is relentlessly producing back in Hinwil to find the extra pace required to make another step forward towards the front of the midfield, which is closer than before in this season."

Valtteri Bottas: "I believe we maximised our performance today, even though the end result was not as strong as I had hoped. Still, we improved and that's what we have to take with us into the next race. At the start, I got a bit boxed in, and that limited my ability to make up positions. After that, the race was relatively straightforward, as we followed our planned strategy and even extended the first stint by a handful of laps. While it may not have been the best possible outcome in terms of end position, the positive is that we were able to fight more effectively than we have been able to recently. Our pace was in line with some of our closest competitors, which gives us confidence for the next rounds. Now, we must keep our focus on the next upgrade to be as effective as the latest, as we hope it will arrive soon. This will hopefully make us take another step in this direction."

Zhou Guanyu: "Our race today was quite challenging, with brake overheating early on that forced us to lift off regularly and throughout the race, compromising our pace each lap. It's definitely something we have to look into to understand the root cause of the issue. It felt like we had more to give, but we still managed to hold our own and stay competitive with the cars around us. It's a step forward, something we weren't able to do just a few races ago, so it's encouraging progress. The team will keep working hard and with São Paulo coming up, we'll give it our all to be even closer in the mix."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Mexico City here.