Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber took to the track at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit for the opening day of this weekend's action, navigating challenging conditions with low temperatures and minimal grip.

Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu focused on collecting data and testing various setup options, working to unlock the car's potential ahead of tomorrow's qualifying session. Despite the tricky surface and evolving track conditions, the team made steady progress in refining the balance and is looking forward to tomorrow's qualifying session.

Valtteri Bottas: "The upgrades we brought this weekend seem to be functioning as expected, which is a good sign indicating that we've made a step forward with the performance of the car. While it's always difficult to say exactly where we'll stand tomorrow, we don't seem to be in too bad a position compared to the most recent events. Of course, the five-place grid penalty is a setback, but we'll do everything we can in qualifying to be as far high in the standings as we can. Now, the focus shifts to finding more single-lap performance to improve our qualifying performance, while also working to strengthen our race pace, which has been an area of weakness for us recently."

Zhou Guanyu: "During today's practice sessions, we were able to collect a good amount of data. It's pretty insane how low the grip is! While the track improves session by session, every time it resets it feels like ice skating. We've tried different setups, and while I'm still searching for the limit, the balance isn't quite in the 'happy place' yet. I'm sure we can work on it tonight: I know what I need from the car, and if we can find the right way to get there, there's potential to unlock. The conditions are tricky, especially in certain corners, but that adds to the challenge of this track. I'm excited for tomorrow's qualifying - anything can happen."

Check out our Thursday gallery from Las Vegas here.